Firestarter: Again Will The Fire Burn
by The Silent Scream
Summary: After the wedding bells, it's time for the honeymoon - but not even there, Willow and her demon are safe from trouble. Crossover (sort of) with Stephen King's Firestarter. Willow / OC established relationship. Rating for violence and Pat's dirty mouth.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I was planning to post the first chapter of this yesterday already buuuuut… Fallout 4 came out so I kinda got busy with that XD here we go today though!

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to people who are not me. Charlie McGee belongs to Stephen King.

Firestarter: Again Will The Fire Burn

"I'm so nervous", Willow breathed, not even noticing how Buffy started fussing with her hair again, for what seemed to the millionth time; next to her, Dawn was almost bouncing on the spot, smiling so wide that, if she had been paying attention, her sister might have worried that her face would split.

"Of course you are", Buffy told her instead of worrying about the durability of her sister's face, "but you know it'll all be fine! I keep telling you, Pat will go non-verbal when she sees you in that dress, and everyone else will be impressed, too."

Nodding bravely, the witch took another critical look at herself, making sure the wedding dress was sitting correctly; it had been three months since the demon had proposed to her, and a lot of that time had been spent with organizing the whole event, all of the work culminating in what hopefully would be their most special day together.

"Willow?" her mother's voice distracted her from her mirror image, prompting her to turn around, "is everything going well… Oh, dear, you look amazing."

"Thank you", the redhead gave back, slightly surprised – when she had sent the invitations to the wedding to her mother and father, she hadn't even been sure that they would come, considering the disastrous circumstances under which they had met the demon for the first time and hadn't had any contact to the couple since, but now, it seemed that her mother was warming up to the idea at last, or at least tried to be happy for her daughter.

"Everything's fine", the witch now added, smiling at her mother, "I'm just so nervous…"

"Oh, I was, too when I married your father", Sheila replied, giving her a calming smile, "and I still think it's a pity you're not having a Jewish ceremony…"

Momentarily, Willow was irritated about her mother bringing this up again, something they had discussed at length after the Rosenbergs had received the invitation; then, she told herself that she wouldn't let this day be ruined and just smiled, keeping her voice calm and reasonable as she replied.

"As you know", she reminded her mother of the previous discussion about this topic, "Pat's not Jewish. Also, it would have been hard, if not impossible, to find a rabbi for a same sex ceremony."

"Yes, I'm aware of that", Sheila replied with a small sigh, "but it still would have been nice… Say, did Pam say anything, is she going to wear that dreadful eyepatch during the ceremony?"

"Yes", the witch replied, now finding it considerably harder to keep her temper, something Buffy noticed since she put a calming hand on her back, "there's no eye beneath that, she's not wearing it for fun, as you know. And her name's Pat."

"Sheila", Dawn piped up before the elder woman had another chance to say something, and perhaps let out something even more dreadful which would push the redhead over the edge, "why don't we go and see how the guests are doing?"

"Um", Sheila let out in response, but before she could voice more protest than that, Dawn already was pushing her out the door, glancing over her shoulder and winking at the grateful look Willow was giving her.

"I know she doesn't do it on purpose", the witch then grumbled, adjusting the dress once more, "but it's still irritating. That dreadful eyepatch? Really? What does she think it is, a fashion accessory?"

"She can't help herself", Buffy agreed, giving her a hopefully calming smile, "don't let her get to you, this is your special day and you're supposed to be happy!"

"I am", Willow reassured her, smiling at her, "but I wish it'd be time already, just waiting is not helping with the nervousness…"

"Few more minutes", the blonde replied after a quick check of the clock on the wall; in response, the witch nodded, then checked herself over in the mirror once more, smiling to herself as she waited for the moment she'd finally leave this room and go outside to meet her fiancée for the marriage ceremony.

* * *

"Stop fiddling with that tie", Xander scolded, shaking his head, "I told you, it sits perfectly! Don't touch it!"

"Hmph", the demon let out, looking critically at herself in the mirror, "are you sure? Doesn't look perfect to me."

Again she reached for the tie, and this time, Xander didn't just stop her verbally, but by smacking her hand, making her glare at him; he bravely held her angry look though, shaking his head yet again, then even going as far as wagging his finger at her.

"No more touching the tie", he then told her in the strictest voice he could manage, "or I swear I'll handcuff you until the ceremony starts!"

"Yo, what's with the kinky talk", Faith wanted to know as she came strolling into the room, raising an eyebrow, "the two of you got something going I don't know about? I thought you're kinda gay, Pat."

"It's about the tie", the demon told her in response, rolling her good eye – before she smirked and pulled the surprised Slayer into a brief, but tight embrace, her next words making the smaller brunette smile again though. "And glad to see you could make it. We weren't sure you'd get the invitation in time, since we had no idea if you're still in L.A."

"Well, I wasn't", Faith gave back, moving back a bit to take a critical look at the tie, then agreeing with Xander, "but Angel told me about it after he received his. The tie's sitting just right, by the way, and you look quite fancy."

"I know, right", the taller woman replied, taking another look at herself in the mirror; anyone with a bit of an eye for fashion could tell that the black tux she was wearing had been tailor-made to fit her perfectly, the white button-up shirt and dark red tie doing the rest to make her look dressed for the event.

"Don't know when it's been the last time that I wore a tux", she added, tugging at the sleeves of her shirt; letting out a chuckle, Faith shrugged, an amused glint in her eyes when she replied. "Well, one doesn't get married every day, right? Congrats, by the way."

"Thanks", Pat smirked, "and, well, it only took me about two hundred and forty years to find the right woman to marry."

"And those few years you didn't add now", Xander added, grinning innocently when another glare was levelled his way; then, the demon focused on her mirror image once more, this time on the eyepatch, making sure that it was sitting correctly and covering everything up, even tugging it in place slightly.

"Don't wanna freak any of Willow's relatives out", she added at the questioning look Faith shot her, "they're not as accustomed to the sight of injuries and scars as the battle-hardened rest of us. Actually, the eyepatch all by itself is enough to worry some of them, Willow told me that her mom asked more than once if I'm gonna wear the 'dreadful thing', as she put it, at the wedding."

"Why does she think you wear it", Faith replied with a roll of her eyes, "for fun? Jeez, rude much?"

"Don't tell me", Pat grumbled, deciding that she looked good enough and focusing on Xander now, asking him if he got the rings; he nodded in response, holding the small box up for emphasis, then checked his watch before he informed the demon that the music which would begin the ceremony was scheduled to start in a few minutes.

"Dammit", the demon grumbled in reply, prompting him to raise an eyebrow, "I was hoping I could get another smoke before it starts. I'm nervous."

"Yeah, cause Red will surely dig it if you kiss her right after having a smoke", Faith teased, earning a low snort from the taller woman; then, having to admit that the dark Slayer was right, the demon settled for merely waiting, almost straining her ears as she waited for the music to start, knowing that this would be the moment things would get really serious.


	2. Chapter 2

The moment the music started, all the guests fell silent, glancing towards the far end of the room, where a makeshift altar had been put up; behind it, Natasha, the head of the England Coven, was waiting, having agreed to do the marriage ceremony for the couple, both of them figuring that this would be the best choice, with the Wiccan beliefs and rituals being the closest thing the two had as a shared religion.

Unlike his wife, Ira Rosenberg didn't try hard to hide his dismay about this; he had had a few short talks with Pat before the whole ceremony, but still couldn't say that he liked the thought of this woman marrying his daughter, well aware of the fact though that he had no say in the matter, not after both Sheila and he had neglected to show interest in Willow's life for so many years.

 _Guess you can be glad that you got an invitation at all,_ he pondered, glancing at the woman who would hold the ceremony once more; technically, as he knew, the two were already married, having done the bureaucratic part right away in the morning, but neither of them would consider the marriage complete without the ceremony in Sunnydale's town hall, the unromantic part at the civil registry office having been done in private by them, without anyone there but the best men to witness the union.

The sound of a door opening distracted him from those ponderings, and he automatically looked, along with everyone else in the room; and even though he still wasn't all too fond of his daughter's partner, he had to admit that she was quite the sight, looking calm and composed as she walked to the altar with Willow's childhood friend Xander by her side, the young man clearly acting as her best man.

Momentarily, he felt remorse again at having paid so little attention to his daughter's life during the last few years, a fact which had led to her to not choosing him to lead her down the aisle, but the slightly older than him British man they all apparently were close friends with, despite the age difference; then, he pushed those thoughts aside and merely watched how his daughter's future wife made her way down the aisle, now glancing at the guests as she did so.

To her happiness, almost all of those they had invited had been able to make it; only a few very distant relatives of Willow weren't attending, but all the friends they had made ever since she had come to Sunnydale were there, dressed for the occasion and looking happy for them whenever her gaze fell on them.

A bunch of the Pack had come, those they were closest to, Derek, Alexia, Simone with her newborn son; Gregor, the bear, had made it, as well, looking as if he might explode out of his suit, should he take a too deep breath, and he had brought his partner, too, a woman almost as impressively tall and bulky as he was, but still managing to look good in the dress she had put on.

A few rows farther, Sue the wind demon had ended up sitting next to Dr Henderson, giving the demon brief cause to hope that her friend wouldn't drive the serious doctor bonkers; then she moved on, spotting a few of the people from college Willow had invited before she was past the first row and took the last few steps to the altar, Natasha smiling calmingly at her, clearly sensing how nervous the taller woman was by now.

Taking in a deep breath, Pat had a moment to smile back at her; and then, another door opened, and she automatically turned, all nervousness forgotten the moment her gaze fell on Willow, her mouth going dry as her eye widened slightly.

As tradition dictated, Willow hadn't let her see her in the dress she'd had tailor made for the wedding; thus, she saw her in it for the first time now, the sight being enough to force her into fighting the sudden urge to rush over there and just rip the dress off, her heart speeding up as she drank in the sight, trying to memorize every little detail, from how the dress hugged her lover's curves to how it accented her cleavage, making her look unbelievably stunning.

"Don't forget to breathe", Xander whispered to her, making sure no one else heard him; in response, the demon gulped audibly, then straightened up, reminding herself that they would have more than enough time for the ripping of clothes and what would follow after the ceremony and during their honeymoon.

Still, she couldn't keep herself from grinning from ear to ear as Giles led the witch down the aisle; holding her gaze, Willow smiled just as widely, and Giles was looking quite happy as well as he led her to the altar, the demon finding herself unable to take her eyes off her partner as she finally stopped next to her.

Part of her realized that Natasha had started talking, but she couldn't quite focus on what the Wicca was saying; there was some talk about uniting them and about the love they shared, but even though she knew that surely, it was quite romantic and sweet, she couldn't focus on it, too mesmerized by the eyes of her lover as they just kept looking at each other.

"…the rings?" Natasha was asking after her little speech, the two words finally snapping the black haired woman out of her trance; clearing his throat, Xander stepped up to her, then carefully opened the box, to his relief not fumbling with the clasp or even dropping it, and after a brief look to make sure she wouldn't grab the wrong one, Pat took the smaller of the two rings, the simple gold band briefly catching the light before she slid it on Willow's finger, causing the witch's smile to widen.

With her hand trembling just enough to let Pat notice, the redhead then took the other ring out, briefly looking away from her so she could slide it on her finger; and the moment it sat there, the witch let out the breath she had been holding, having been worried that she might drop the ring or that it might suddenly not fit anymore, relieved to see that, just like hers, it was a perfect fit, glinting slightly when she wrapped her fingers around the taller woman's, the need to touch her suddenly so strong that she couldn't help herself.

"Just as these rings have no end, so shall your love never have one", Natasha went on once the ring part had been finished and Xander had stepped back, "in good times and in bad times, support each other and be there for each other, and nothing life can throw at you will put something between you."

She took a moment to smile at both of them, then spoke on, talking a bit more of love and commitment; and then, she finally said the words Pat had been waiting for, the glint in her eyes showing that she was well aware of how keen the demon was by now on doing what she finally allowed.

"You are now married", she thus said, not saying "wife and wife" since the couple had agreed it might sound awkward, "you may kiss your wife."

In response, the demon stepped a bit closer to her partner – _your wife,_ her brain reminded her joyfully, _she's your wife now! –_ and carefully placed both hands at her waist; without missing a beat, the redhead reacted by wrapping her arms around the taller woman's neck, then pulled her down for a kiss, the wedding guests cheering and clapping as their lips met, making the ceremony complete.

* * *

"We did it", Willow mumbled a while later, after they had received all the congratulations from their friends and family and were sharing the first dance, "we got married. Can you believe part of me expected something dreadful to happen the whole time?"

"Me too", Pat chuckled, to the witch's slight relief, "this _is_ Sunnydale after all. I was almost waiting for a demon to come bursting in or something."

"Good it wasn't just me, then", Willow replied with a small laugh, making the taller woman smirk and nod; for a while, they danced on in silence, the other guests watching and commenting to each other how good they looked together, even the always strict and serious Dr Henderson showing a tiny smile, then the witch spoke up again, keeping her voice low though so no one else would hear what she was saying. "I'm glad though nothing happened… We deserve this, after all we've been through."

"Damn right we do", the demon agreed at once, earning a scolding look for her language, "and if anyone had messed this up for us, well… They wouldn't have left this building on their own two feet."

"Don't let my father hear you talking like that", the witch gave back with a small laugh, "or he'll start hating you all over again. I think he still dislikes you from that disastrous first meeting the two of you had."

"Well, seeing how seldom they visit, I can live with that", the taller woman replied, earning another giggle, this time accompanied by a nod, from her partner; they smiled at each other for another moment, then the song ended and they stopped dancing, their guests applauding them and making Willow blush slightly.

Before she could react in any other way though, her father had moved up to her and had asked her for the traditional dance between father and daughter; not having the heart to deny him this, the redhead nodded, her agreement prompting Pat to step aside and move off the dance floor, briefly relieved about this – after all, dancing wasn't one of her best skills, and she only had done that one dance because it was part of the ceremony.

"Yo!" a thundering voice distracted her from those ponderings, making her flinch; upon turning into the direction the shout had come from, she wasn't surprised to find herself face to chest with Gregor, the shapeshifter beaming at her as he clapped her on the back, hard enough to nearly make her stumble.

"Congrats", he went on in hi booming voice, turning several heads, not noticing or not minding the attention though, "about time you two tied the knot! And thanks for the invitation!"

"Welcome", the black haired woman gave back, holding back the urge to rub her shoulder and grimace, "we're glad you could make it."

"Of course we made it", Gregor gave back, his mate now coming over to join the conversation as well, smiling happily at the demon, "you're Friends of the Pack, it would be an insult to miss this!"

"Um, yes, thanks", Pat replied, glancing around to make sure no one who had no idea about the supernatural parts of the guest list had heard this, "but please keep down the Pack talk? There are relatives of Willow here who have no idea about this. They don't even know about… me."

"Oh, of course", Gregor reassured her immediately, to her amusement even blushing a bit while his partner glanced around, now appearing a bit uneasy, "sorry, we should have kept that in mind…"

"Thanks", the black haired woman smirked at him, his blush only deepening in response, the sight nearly making her laugh out loud; she felt strangely giddy, a feeling which only increased each time her gaze fell on the ring she now had on her finger, and only grew further when she glanced at the witch, who still was dancing with her father, a few others of the male guests, to her amusement, already waiting.

"Your wife's in high demand", Gregor's partner noted, making the demon realize with a bit of shame that she had forgotten the other woman's name; she didn't feel that for long though, the giddiness coming back at someone else calling Willow her wife, Gregor chuckling quite loudly at the happy grin on the black haired woman's face.

"You gonna grin like that every time someone calls her your wife, you'll get wrinkles", he then teased, making her raise an eyebrow at him before she shrugged; the shapeshifter laughed heartily again, then let her know in his booming voice that it was time for a drink and almost dragged her to the bar, his partner following with a resigned look on her face while the demon just kept grinning, almost finding it hard to believe how happy a simple ring was making her.


	3. Chapter 3

"Pew", Willow let out quite some time later, falling down onto the seat next to her partner and grimacing, "that's enough dancing for me now. My feet hurt."

"I'd offer a footrub, but that might not be the right environment", Pat gave back with a slight smirk, making the redhead giggle and nod before she leaned in for a tender kiss, smiling widely at her afterwards, a smile the demon knew was mirrored on her own face.

"So", the witch then started, after another kiss had been shared and she had helped herself to a drink, "how does it feel to be my wife now? Mrs Rosenberg?"

"Well, the best part surely is that now, you guys won't make fun of my name anymore", Pat replied without missing a beat, chuckling at the way Willow raised an eyebrow at her for that and hurriedly speaking on, "and of course knowing that we're married now is pretty awesome, too."

"Nice safe", Faith's voice came up before the redhead could reply anything to that, "and even if your name's Rosenberg now, we can still make fun of the one we had before."

Grinning at the scoffing taller woman, she slid into the nearest free seat, then looked around for one of the waiters; quickly, one of them was spotted and she waved him over, not surprising the couple when she ordered a beer the moment he was close enough to hear her.

"Seriously though", she then went on, "congrats again to the two of you. You both deserve that, and a normal and happy wedding."

"Thanks", Willow smiled, lovingly glancing at her partner, "actually, I told Pat how I almost expected something dreadful to happen. This is Sunnydale after all."

"Yeah", Faith agreed with a laugh, Pat chuckling, as well, "it wouldn't be surprising at all, right? But hey, you still got the honeymoon, maybe something can happen then."

"If you jinxed it now, I'll blame you and hunt you down", the demon told her, sounding serious enough to make her stop smiling and gulp, "and then I'll hit you. Really hard."

Momentarily, this reminded Willow of the fact that currently, the taller woman still had the chip in her brain which prevented her from hitting any human beings; during the last few weeks, when she hadn't been busy organizing the wedding, she'd looked up spells to get rid of it or at least deactivate it, but so far hadn't found one which guaranteed that the chip could be removed or made harmless without the risk of brain damage, a risk she wasn't willing to take.

Before she could ponder this further though, Faith spoke up again, asking where they would go for their honeymoon, raising an eyebrow at Pat's reply.

"London", the demon told her, elaborating at the surprised look on the dark Slayer's face "we're both not all too fond of lying around at a beach all day, Willow's interested in seeing other parts of England than the housing and land of the coven and it's been a while since I went there, myself. Not to mention there won't be a language barrier."

"There wouldn't have been one in Paris, either", the redhead reminded her in reply, giggling slightly, "since, as I told you when we started planning this, I'm fluent in French. But, well, Pat absolutely refused the idea of going to France, due to the food."

"Yup", the demon nodded, "and also, it'll be nice if I can talk to people too and won't just have to stand there smiling and nodding while my wonderful wife does all the conversation."

"Good point", Faith nodded, "and when are you leaving? Tomorrow?"

"The day after tomorrow", Willow let her know, "seeing that this party will most likely take until the early hours of the morning."

"And another good point", the dark Slayer nodded, "obviously, you two didn't drink enough yet, if you're still that smart and coherent."

"I'd have to drink a lot to get drunk", Pat pointed out in reply, subtly reminding her of her nature and the higher tolerance for alcohol it granted her; apparently, the hint had been enough, since Faith briefly grimaced, then seemed to shrug it off, since she jumped up and declared that she'd get them something proper to drink now, rushing off before the couple had a chance to protest.

"She does know I'm pregnant, right", Willow wanted to know, frowning; in response, Pat furrowed her brow as well, sounding thoughtful when she replied after pondering this for a minute. "You know, I'm not actually sure she does. And that dress is hiding the fact that you're showing a bit by now really well. Did you tell her?"

"No", the witch realized, "I thought you did, or Buffy, or someone. But apparently, no one did, or she would have mentioned it by now."

"Most likely", the demon agreed, then smirked again, her next words making Willow giggle yet again, her laughter coming even easier than usual on this special day, "but, well, I'll just have to be noble and drink your shot, too, then, so Faith won't be offended."

"Such a sacrifice", the redhead teased her with another giggle, making her chuckle as well; and then, they shared another kiss, pulling apart again just in time as yet another guest approached them with congratulations and the intention to have some small talk, once more making both of them glad that all the people important to them had managed to make it to their wedding.

* * *

Just as Willow had predicted, the whole event went on until the early hours of the morning, and since they were the main interest of said event, they were the last ones to leave; at least though, a taxi already had been waiting in front of the building to take them home, both of them feeling tired and drained by the time the vehicle stopped in front of their home.

"What a night", the redhead mumbled after the driver had been paid and they were making their way to the elevator, "I'm trying to remember when I last came home at the break of dawn after a party and not from patrol or something and can't."

"Same here", the demon gave back as she took off her shoes, her gaze fixed on her partner as she did so, "but honestly, I doubt I could remember even if I tried harder. My mind's kinda preoccupied with something else."

"Yeah?" Willow wanted to know, turning to look at her and smiling slightly at the well-known lusty glint in the taller woman's eye, still feigning ignorance though, "and with what?"

"You know", Pat replied, straightening up and taking off her jacket, not answering her right away, "when you came out in that dress at the wedding, all I wanted was to rip it off of you and ravage you right there. Took a lot of self-control to not do that, in front of all those people."

"Thank you", Willow gave back with a slight laugh, "that surely would have caused quite the ruckus. Except maybe among the shapeshifters, I bet they do that all the time at their home."

"Probably", the demon replied with a chuckle of her own, "but, you know, I just postponed the thought. I didn't forget it."

"You don't have to tear it though", the witch admonished, already moving backwards and towards the living room, not taking her eyes off the taller woman for a second, "I can just as well take it off."

And with those words, she reached behind her back, then pulled down the zipper, the dress falling open moments later; letting out a low growl, Pat moved closer to her with a few fast strides, already unbuttoning her shirt as she did so, pulling her into a heated embrace moments later, their tiredness forgotten as their lips met in a passionate kiss.


	4. Chapter 4

The day after the wedding was spent mostly calm, the only activity the couple did apart from lounging around on the couch being the packing for their honeymoon in London; the thought of said honeymoon made Willow almost as giddy as looking at the wedding band did, the redhead looking forward to spending some time in England during which she could merely be a tourist and not on dark magic rehab.

Still she still was calm enough to make sure they had packed everything they'd need for their holiday, the British pounds she had gotten at the bank, the flight tickets and their passports, and all the things they'd need during the two weeks there; she checked the luggage two more times to make sure everything was there, smiling at her partner afterwards as they were getting ready for bed at last, knowing they had to get up early in the next morning to catch their flight.

"I'm so excited about this", she told the taller woman as she slipped into bed next to her and immediately was pulled into a tender embrace, "I've been to England before, but never to London. There's so much I want to look at!"

"And we'll have more than enough time for that", Pat reassured her, smirking, moving her hand again to caress her hair tenderly, her gaze falling on her wedding band as she did so, the golden ring being enough to turn her smirk into a happy grin, "don't forget, we got two weeks."

"Two weeks in London", the witch sighed in reply, "with my wife. That's just too good to be true. Please tell me I'm not dreaming?"

"You're not", the taller woman told her at once, "but if you want me to, I can pinch you, just to make sure?"

"No need, thanks", Willow giggled, "but, honestly, when someone had told me about that a year ago, I wouldn't have believed it. And I still find it hard to believe that nothing dreadful happened at the wedding."

"Well, as Faith said", Pat replied with a chuckle of her own, "there's still the honeymoon. Even though I really will hit her if something happens, cause it'll be totally her fault."

"You can't hit her", the redhead reminded her in reply, "remember, you still got that chip in your head. I promise after the honeymoon, I'll go on looking for a spell to get rid of it…"

"Good thing we don't often fight humans", the taller woman sighed in reply, grimacing as she thought of the chip buried deep within her brain, "I'd hate it if you got hurt because of that stupid thing of technology in my head."

"It'll be alright", the witch reassured her, snuggling up closer to her, "if I can't figure this out, the coven will help… Hey, perhaps, we can pay them a visit, if we find the time."

"I doubt we can run out of things to look at in London", Pat snickered in reply, making her partner giggle slightly as well, "but, sure, why not… It'd be nice to meet more of them, especially after Natasha agreed to do the ceremony for us."

Nodding, Willow let out a yawn, prompting the demon to suggest that they should get some sleep now, thinking of the early flight they had to catch; again, the smaller woman nodded her agreement, then wished her lover a good night, both of them sound asleep just a few minutes later.

* * *

In the next morning, they headed off to the airport early in the morning, the taxi they had ordered just for this to their relief already waiting in front of the apartment building when they stepped outside; and to the even bigger happiness of Pat, the driver was one of the few who didn't feel the need to share smalltalk with his passengers, the only sound in the cab being the music coming from the radio as he drove them.

Next to her, Willow smiled at her, yet again mused by how much of a morning grouch she was; reaching over, she grasped the taller woman's hand and gave it a tender squeeze, at least managing to make the demon smile slightly as well, even though clearly, Pat still wasn't up to conversation.

"We're gonna get you another coffee at the airport", the witch promised her wife, squeezing her hand yet again, the feeling of the black haired woman's wedding band beneath her fingers making her smile widen slightly, "so you won't be grumpy to the people at the airport. If traffic stays as light as it is, we should have more than enough time for that."

The only reply she got was a vaguely agreeing grunt noise, the sound making her giggle slightly; she shook her head, then leaned back into the seat, looking out of the window as the vehicle was steered through the streets and to the airport, a small smile curling her lips again as she thought of the fact that in not all too long, they'd be in London and have the chance to look at all the fascinating sights she had read about.

Thanks to the light traffic, they made it to the airport with ample time left for check-in and the procedures it included, and to get Pat another coffee; and not too long after arriving at the airport, they sat in the plane, the demon by now capable of proper speech, still looking tired though, the early hour the alarm clock had been set to clearly having taken its toll on her.

Thus, it was no surprise that she mumbled "Coffee" when one of the flight attendants made her way to their seat and asked if she'd want that or tea; Willow ordered the same, then unpacked the book she had brought for the flight, knowing that the taller woman wasn't up to smalltalk now, not until she had had her second coffee.

Due to how engrossed she got in the book and the fact that shortly after take-off, Pat fell asleep again, the flight passed quickly for both of them; and by the time they got off the plane at the London airport, Willow was feeling positively giddy again, almost bouncing instead of walking as she made her way to checkout with the taller woman by her side.

"Good thing we took this early flight", she told Pat as they moved to stand in line at the checkout, "now we still can make some use of the day after we checked into the hotel."

"What do you wanna look at first?" the demon wanted to know, smirking, "some museum? Or the famous shopping streets?"

"Not sure", Willow gave back while the line moved forward a few steps, "but luckily, we have two weeks to look at all the awesome things here, so I won't have to get stressed that we might miss anything."

"And if we do, we can always come back", Pat replied, taking a few more steps forward, "don't forget that…"

She trailed off as two men caught her eye, official-looking types in black suits, white shirts and black ties; the way they were glancing around and moving through the crowd just beyond the checkout point made them stand out, not to regular people who had no idea what to look for, but to her trained gaze it was more than obvious, centuries of experience making it easy for her to figure out what they were doing.

"Check those two out", she mumbled to Willow, the nagging feeling that something big was about to go down taking hold of her and nearly making her grimace as she wondered why these things always seemed to happen wherever they went, "they're looking for someone, and I got a bad feeling about this."

Frowning, the witch glanced at the two men, neither of them noticing that at least one person had figured out what they were doing and was now paying attention to them; to her dismay, she quickly shared Pat's feelings as she watched the men, shifting her feet nervously as she suddenly was sure that any moment now, something dreadful would begin to happen.

"Why do these things always happen where we are", she mumbled, more to herself, but still loud enough for the taller woman to hear; without taking her eye off the men, Pat shrugged, taking another step closer to them as the line moved on, none of the people around them noticing that anything was going on, chatting amiably amongst each other as they waited to get through checkout.

"Maybe they're just looking for a criminal", the redhead now guessed, finding it hard to look away from them either, now that they had gained her attention, "and for once, we'll have a holiday without anything disastrous…"

Before she even could finish the sentence, one of the men suddenly perked up visibly, gesturing up ahead; his partner looked as well, then both of them got moving, the demon's gaze quickly scanning the people up ahead of them as she tried to figure out whom they were after.

It didn't take her long to do so, her trained gaze easily picking up whom they were focused on as they moved towards the person, faster than the other people around them, but not so fast that they might have gained attention; to her, it was clear that the target was a woman in her early thirties, with reddish-blonde hair she had tied back in a ponytail, neither her clothes, nor anything else about her making her stand out.

"She's got power", Willow mumbled next to the taller woman, having picked up on whom the men were after as well, "not magic, but… I don't know, it's obvious, the way she moves, holds herself… she's got some kind of power."

"Demon, maybe", Pat guessed in response, hoping that the men wouldn't get out of sight before they had caught up to the woman, so they would see what would happen; if the woman really was a demon, then the men might not know what they were about to face, and even if they were government types as the demon thought, it was very likely that they were about to go in far over their heads.

Just as she pondered this, the woman seemed to notice her pursuers, since she suddenly stopped, then turned around; and the moment her gaze fell on them, her eyes narrowed as anger filled them, she clenched her fists and Pat just had a second to curse the fact that they always ended up where such dreadful things happened – before the woman snapped something at the men, one of them started to reach beneath his jacket in response, and all hell broke loose just seconds later.


	5. Chapter 5

The moment one of the two men began reaching for his weapon, several things happened at once, but Willow noticed them all, by now having witnessed such situations often enough to know what she had to look for; the woman yelled "Just leave me alone!" at them while Pat started to move the exact same second, stepping out of the line and hurrying to the glass panels which kept people from moving around checkout, ignoring the airport clerk calling out to her that she should stop.

While she was hurrying to the panels, then jumped to reach the upper edge, pulling herself up and over it, one of the men started to scream as his clothes caught fire; and even though the woman hadn't done anything to make it obvious that this had been her doing, Willow just _knew_ that it had been her, almost able to see the power which was radiating off of her.

Without taking her gaze off the woman, she got moving as well, the clerk calling out to her, too, but not sounding as if he meant it; by now, the spectacle of the burning man had caught the attention of almost all the people near enough to see, some of them just standing and staring while others were moving to get away, not having an idea where the fire had come from, but not eager to find out.

"Why can't you leave me alone!" the woman yelled again, at the second man this time; he took a step back in response, raising his empty hands, not able to keep the tremble out of his voice when he replied, Pat by now close enough to hear what he was saying. "We don't want to hurt you, you know that! We just want…"

"You want to lock me up again", the woman snapped in response, taking a step closer to him and making him flinch, "just say it! How many more of you are there?"

"Several", the man gave back, both Pat and Willow noting that he avoided to give a clear number, "even if you take down him and me, there are others, please just come with us and I promise no one else is gonna get hurt."

"The only one who got hurt is your partner", the woman gave back, gesturing at said man; by now, he had smartened up enough to have dropped and rolled, now lying on the floor, groaning softly as his burns clearly pained him, making it impossible for him to get up.

Not sure what to do now that she was getting closer to the man still standing, Pat slowed down a bit, glad that so far, neither the man, nor the woman had noticed her; when she had gotten moving, she had been quite sure that she'd have to save the guys from a woman who possibly was a demon in a disguise similar to hers, but after what she had heard them say, she wasn't so sure about this anymore, now not knowing which side she should take or if she should even get involved at all.

"You better take care of him", the woman now said, with another glance at the injured man, "and you'll just let me walk away. Unless you want to end up as burned as he is. You know I can do that."

"I'd take her advice if I were you", Pat now decided to step in after all, figuring that, if fire was all the power this woman had, she could handle it easily and maybe end this before any of the innocent bystanders got caught up in the line of fire and ended up injured or maybe even dead, "take your buddy and get out of here."

"Who the Hell are you", the man wanted to know in response, sounding so surprised that it was almost comical; smirking, the taller woman shrugged, making sure to appear as relaxed as possible as she replied, not wanting the man or the woman to notice that she was, in fact, quite tensed up.

"Someone who's helping you to save your skin", she told the guy, briefly glancing at the woman, who was staring at her wide-eyed, appearing more shocked by her intrusion than she should, something the demon didn't have time to ponder now though, "and the skin of the people all around the two of you. I'm not sure whom you work for, but you surely don't want to report that a bunch of civilians got hurt because your little mission went awry."

"Take her advice", Willow now finally had gotten close enough to say something, as well, "we don't know who you are, and we don't care, just make sure no one else gets hurt."

"Are they with you?" the woman now demanded to know, before the man had the chance to reply, "is this some sort of play to throw me off my guard?"

"We're not with them", Pat was the one to answer that, now turning to look at her, "as my wife said, we just don't want anyone to get hurt. Just turn around, walk off and get away from here, and—"

She never had the chance to finish as all at once, the woman's eyes narrowed at her, her hands clenching into fists; later, she'd be thankful that she'd been the one to get her attention and not Willow, since she was the one of the two who couldn't be harmed by fire, something which proved to be quite fortunate when what appeared to be some sort of heated up shockwave hit her, hard enough to force her a few steps back, flames all over her clothing all at once, a low growl coming from her at being attacked so completely unprovoked.

A quick mental command was enough to put the flames out, not even a hair on her body having been singed; clearly shocked by this, the woman took a step back, her hand coming up to cover her mouth while her eyes widened, her whole mimic and body language suddenly making her appear much younger, a sight which gave Pat pause, Willow noticing how she took a closer look at the woman, frowning slightly, the redhead almost able to hear the gears in her partner's head turn.

While this took no more than a few seconds, the government man took the chance given by the distraction and grabbed his partner, forcing him to his feet; they hurried off without looking back, clearly considering themselves beaten for now, but neither of the three women paid them any mind, the woman still staring at Pat as if she suddenly had grown a second head, Willow's confusion about this and about her lover's reaction only growing when the blonde spoke up.

"It's you", she brought out in a trembling voice, all anger gone from it now, "oh my God, how… why…"

"Charlie", the demon seemed to realize who she was looking at just a second later, sounding so surprised that it would have made Willow laugh, had the circumstances be different; if the taller woman had wanted to say anything else, she didn't get the chance, since all at once, the woman began moving, her face working as she tried to contain her emotions – and then she almost threw herself into the black haired woman's arms, something Pat clearly hadn't expected since she looked quite startled again for a moment, getting it over it quickly though as she wrapped the trembling blonde into a tight embrace, one of comfort and protection, with Willow watching them in silence as she tried to figure out what was going on and what they just had stumbled into.

* * *

"Alright", Pat said two minutes later, the other woman still clinging to her, so tightly that it made Willow wonder if she was actually hurting her partner, "listen, Charlie, listen to me. We have to get out of here, you heard what he said, there's more of them around."

For a few seconds, it seemed as if the blonde hadn't even heard her, then she nodded and pulled back from the embrace; after another reassuring look at the smaller woman, the demon's gaze briefly focused on Willow, and by now, they knew each other well enough that this one look was enough to tell the witch that she'd explain later, the redhead giving the smallest nod in reply.

"We should get out of here first", she then said, not just wanting to stand there staring, glad that by now, most of the people around had lost interest since the action was apparently over, "before anyone with some authority catches up to us, we didn't exactly check out properly."

"Yeah", Pat nodded her agreement at once, then took hold of Charlie's arm and started leading her towards the entrance, Willow right behind them; glancing around nervously, the witch almost expected someone to start yelling at them that they should stop, or maybe even start firing at them, but to her relief, no such thing happened, and they could leave the airport unhindered, the black haired woman hurrying to the nearest taxi the moment they had stepped outside.

"Hotel first", she mumbled to the witch as they made their way there, "but we can't stay there, we just need to give her some time to come down again…"

"Alright", Willow gave back, with another curious look; knowing that she'd be told everything later though, she didn't ask, but merely got into the taxi, taking the front seat since Charlie didn't look as if she was ready to leave the taller woman's side.

Momentarily, she felt jealous, then told herself not to be stupid – considering her lover's past, there was no reason to think that their acquaintance had been a pleasant one, and especially not a romantic one, keeping in mind how often Pat by now had told her that she was the first one she ever had really fallen in love with, something she even had said during the very beginning of their time together, when she had been under the influence of a truth spell.

 _She'll explain,_ Willow reminded herself after she had given the taxi driver the address of their hotel and he nodded and had started driving; not sure what to talk about, she remained quiet and looked out the window, momentarily regretting that she hadn't the skills of her wife which might have helped her to figure out if someone was following them.

Still, she kept her gaze on the wing mirror of the car, just in case she might spot a suspicious vehicle; this kept her busy until they arrived at the hotel, Pat being the one to pay the cabbie before they all got out of the car, the redhead being the one who took over check-in, since Charlie still looked rather shell-shocked and they didn't want to gain more attention than absolutely necessary.

To her relief, the front desk clerk didn't pay much attention to the two other women, but was focused mostly on her; if he thought that the demon and the blonde were strange in some way, he was too polite to say anything, merely handing the witch the key to the hotel room and wishing them a pleasant stay, Willow forcing herself to smile a smile which felt way too fake at him in response as she thanked him and took the key, then led the way to their room, Charlie letting out a heavy breath the moment the door had closed behind them.

"You're right", she then mumbled, her voice still shaking slightly as she looked at Pat, "we can't stay here, but thanks for taking me here…"

"Welcome", Pat gave back at once, already having her cigarettes in hand, then noticing the non-smoking sign standing discreetly on the small table next to the door and put them back into her pocket with a grumble, "and now let me guess. The Shop?"

"Yes", Charlie replied, sounding strangely toneless now and staring straight ahead into nothingness, "of course… who else… for fifteen years they left me alone and now…"

"They're part of the government", Pat explained in reply, looking at the redhead now, "one of those parts nobody ever talks about and any official government person will deny if you ask about it."

"They were rather dormant for a while, at least about me", Charlie mumbled, her gaze now slowly moving to the demon again now, "after you helped me, they left me alone… but now they're back and they want to lock me up again and I don't even know why, I didn't use my powers to harm anyone, I didn't do anything wrong, I…"

"Hush", Willow interrupted her gently, having noticed how close the blonde was to panicking and to hyperventilating, "you're safe now, we won't let them get you and we'll help you again. But you need to remain calm, alright?"

"…yes", Charlie breathed after a few moments, "I need to… I can't get angry, if I get angry I… Oh God…" She jumped up before Willow or Pat had the chance to react and rushed into the adjoined bathroom, slamming the door close behind herself; worried, the witch moved to go after her, only to be stopped by Pat's hand on her arm, the demon shaking her head when the witch looked at her.

"If you go in there now, there's a good chance you'll get fried", she then explained, throwing an uneasy look at the bathroom, "it's easier for her to control it if there's water, but… It doesn't always work, and if you startle her…"

"Oh Goddess, let's hope she won't burn the place down", the redhead gave back, now feeling nervous; nodding, Pat threw another uneasy glance at the bathroom door, didn't make a move towards it though, but remained where she was, prompting the witch to do the same, both of them fidgeting as they waited to see how it would turn out.


	6. Chapter 6

To their relief, Charlie came back out of the bathroom five minutes later, without any obvious signs for fire in her wake; she still looked upset though, running both hands through her hair in a nervous gesture as she awkwardly stood there, looking from Pat to Willow and back at the demon before she spoke up at last.

"So, you help me out again", she mumbled, keeping her gaze focused on the taller woman now, "thanks… I still haven't paid my debt from… back then."

"There's nothing you have to pay, I told you", Pat gave back, then finally seemed to remember that so far, Willow still had no idea what was going on, something Charlie apparently now noticed as well, giving a slightly sheepish smile as she gestured at the witch.

"You should explain", she then told the demon, sounding a bit calmer and confident already, "your… did you say she's your wife? She looks quite confused…"

"She is", Pat confirmed, smiling slightly without even noticing, "and you're right… That's one of the more heroic tales of my past."

Curiously, Willow nodded at her to go on, and after fighting down the urge to light up a cigarette yet again, the demon did so, her recollection making Charlie smile slightly as she listened in complete silence, not interrupting her once, clearly thinking that she should be the one to tell the tale.

"You know what I was doing before we met", Pat told Willow, making the redhead nod at once, "and, well… Normally, I was hired by other demons or very desperate humans, but this one time, I was hired by the government. By the Shop, to be exact, the guys who were after Charlie back then and are again now… She'd exposed them prior to them hiring me, telling her story to the Rolling Stone magazine, so they wanted her dealt with discreetly. I don't know anymore how they found out about me, but, well, they knew about my nature, figured she couldn't harm me, and sent me to deal with her."

She paused briefly to help herself to a bottle of water from the mini bar, quickly unscrewing the lid and taking a few deep gulps of it; then she went on, her words making Willow smile slightly as they showed her that, despite everything Pat had done before they had met, she hadn't lost her humanity fully back then, and had had a heart already even all those years ago.

"I had no idea who she was", the demon went on, "I'd missed the whole uproar, and only learned about it later. So you can imagine my surprise when I found her and saw she's a ten year old girl."

A wry smile formed on her face while the one on Charlie's widened slightly, the blonde now looking at the taller woman with something close to hero worship, something Pat apparently was unaware though as she continued. "Even though I might have been an evil jerkass back then, I wasn't evil enough to kill a child. So instead of doing that, I…"

… _instead of moving in for_ the kill quickly, she just stood there and stared, momentarily shocked that the first one to send her to kill a child hadn't been a demon, but a regular human, the child holding her gaze in defiant silence as they studied each other in the small room where she had found her.

"Charlie?" she asked, just to be sure, part of her still convinced that this was some sort of mistake, "you're Charlie McGee?"

"Yes", the girl replied, now shifting her feet as some of her defiance evaporated after holding the gaze of those cold blue eyes for so long; for a moment, Pat was sure that she'd say more, but she remained quiet, leaving it to her to explain herself, not giving away more than she absolutely had to.

"Christ", Pat grumbled after staring for another minute, still finding this hard believe even though it was obviously true, "and you're the only McGee around here?"

"Yes", Charlie replied again, but this time, something in her gaze changed, something dark entering it, dark and painful; the demon just had a second to realize that she probably had said the wrong thing now, and then she was on fire, flames flickering all over her body, the girl's eyes narrowing, then widening when she wasn't hurt by them the slightest.

"Don't do that", the black haired woman told her in a strict voice, instead of screaming and rolling around on the floor in pain as she should; and then, the fire vanished, with Pat looking none the worse for wear, only mildly irritated as she held the girl's gaze.

"So", she then said, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of them up on the tip of her finger, making Charlie's eyes go wide again, "you figured out why I'm here, then, or you wouldn't just have tried to fry me."

"You're here to kill me", Charlie gave back without missing a beat, glaring at her defiantly, clearly still not willing to show any other emotion, and especially not fear, "they hired you, didn't they. And I can't burn you. So are you just gonna get it over with then?"

Now, at the last few words, there was a hint of fear, once more reminding Pat that she was facing a child in this room, a kid not even old enough to have hit puberty yet, and momentarily, she was enraged, wishing to find the one who had sent her to this job and strangle him until his last breath left him.

"No", she told the kid instead of rushing off to do just that, knowing that if she simply left without finishing the job, it would not only have consequences for her, but for the child, as well – even though she was a demon, she wasn't evil enough to kill a child, but she knew that others out there were, humans and demons alike, and that one of those would sooner or later be found and sent if she just left Charlie there.

"You're coming with me", she thus said, not having a real plan yet, but figuring that she could improvise, something she had done countless times before in the decades she had worked as an assassin, "you got any things you need? Pack up, quickly, and we're leaving."

"Leaving", Charlie gave back, startled, not having expected that, "and go where?"

"I have no idea yet", the demon told her, growing slightly impatient, "but we'll figure that out once we are out of here. You got any things or you don't? Hurry, we don't have forever."

Giving her a wry look, but knowing that she didn't have much of a choice, Charlie moved to get the backpack which held all the belongings she currently owned, a few clothes and books given to her by the magazine; and while she did so, Pat watched her wearily and smoked in silence, asking herself what she just had gotten herself into and how she was supposed to resolve this whole mess.

* * *

"I took her to one of the few friends I had", Pat came closer to the end of the little tale, "a guy I knew I could trust to not rat us out. When they called to know about the job, I told them I'd killed her and made the body vanish, hoping that would get them off her trail."

"It worked", Charlie told her, smiling weakly, "at least for a while. I don't know how they found me again after that, but for a while, they left me alone… And that couple your friend took me to was taking good care of me."

"They better did", Pat replied snarkily, making Willow smile slightly, "cause I told him if he'd take you to anyone who'd treat you like shit, I'd come back and kill him. Obviously, that threat worked."

"So you didn't keep tabs on her after you took her away from there?" the witch wanted to know, raising an eyebrow, "no offense, Sweetie, but that doesn't seem like you."

"I would have, if I hadn't told them I'd killed her", the demon pointed out in reply, "they might have been keeping tabs on me after I left town, so I had to make sure I did nothing suspicious. I even avoided going back there for a decade or two, just to make sure I wouldn't run into her while someone perhaps was watching."

"Good point", the redhead had to admit, "but, well, no surprise you keep such things in mind, with your experience… and you did a good thing back then. But I guess you know that."

"Well, as I said", Pat gave back with a wry smile, "even though I was evil back then, I wasn't evil enough to do that. I honestly thought they'd sent me after an adult, so you can imagine my surprise when I found myself looking at a ten year old."

"Good thing they sent you, and not someone else", Charlie sighed in response, giving her another admiring glance, the sight making Willow smile this time as she felt strangely proud about what her partner had done, even though she hadn't even known her back then, "and now you helped me out again. Thanks for that…"

"Don't mention it", the demon shrugged, "but we're not done yet. We have to figure out what to do now, if they're after you again, they won't just give up even if they now know that you have help."

"The coven", Willow realized in reply, her eyes lighting up as she looked from Charlie to her lover, "they're way out in the countryside, and even if they do find her there, there'll be a bunch of witches and warlocks around, keeping them from getting her again. I know they'll help us if we ask them…"

"Call them, then", Pat instructed, glad that her partner had come up with this and thus had saved them from hours of brainstorming and planning, "and once we know for sure they'll help us, we'll find a car and get there."

"With _find_ a car, you mean hotwire a car and steal it, right", Willow sighed, some of her dismay about this vanishing though when Charlie let out a little laugh, clearly not as upset anymore as she had been just before Pat had told the story of how they had met; with a slightly sheepish look, the demon shrugged, then nodded in response, the witch merely letting out another sigh in response and not arguing the point further, knowing that, even though it was illegal, it was more or less the right thing to do – by now, surely the men from the Shop knew who they were, and if they left a paper trail by renting a car, they only would make it easier to be found.

"We can get one of the witches or warlocks to drive it back", Pat suggested in an attempt to ease her mind, "so it won't be completely gone. Just borrowed."

"Like you _borrowed_ that motorcycle when we made the field trip to the asylum, huh", Willow replied, rolling her eyes when with a wide and impossibly innocent smile, the taller woman nodded in reply; letting out another giggle, Charlie shook her head at their antics, and after another smile at her, Willow dug out her phone and called Natasha, eager to get moving again before the men after the blonde might track them down and cause even more harm than they already had.


	7. Chapter 7

"Ugh, I forgot people drive on the left side of the road here", Pat complained minutes after she had gotten into the car and had been forced to remember this fact, "Will, you better drive, there's no need for us to crash because of my lack of depth perception."

"How did that happen, anyway", Charlie wanted to know, frowning, leaning forward slightly in the backseat while Willow and Pat traded places, the witch not feeling all too comfortable with driving either, but knowing that her partner had made a good point, "correct me if I'm wrong, but you weren't one-eyed when you were sent to kill me, right?"

"Nope", Pat confirmed, lighting up a cigarette after getting comfortable in the passenger seat and opening the window slightly so she wouldn't stink up the car, "that happened a few years ago, when we were preventing the end of the world. We do that a lot."

"…alright", Charlie gave back, sounding a bit stunned; normally, Willow would have elaborated now, but thanks to the fact that she had to drive on the left side of the street and the added difficulty that thus, the gearshift was on her left as well, forced her to keep quiet, all her attention on not driving them off into the ditch or accidentally killing the engine.

"Goddess", she grumbled under her breath when she tried to change gears and the car let out a few disconcerting noises, "I never would have thought that's so difficult. Am I glad my professors can't see me now. Their brilliant student, finding herself unable to drive a car."

"Psh", Pat let out, "as if they'd fare any better. And you're doing just fine."

"Don't jinx it", Willow mumbled, then fell silent again as she concentrated on getting out of London without causing a crash or driving off the street; to her relief though, at least they didn't get lost, and not too long after Pat had hotwired the car, they had made it out of the inner city and were driving through the suburbs, the fact that traffic was a bit lighter there making it easier for the witch to relax, as well.

"So, this coven", Charlie broke the silence which had formed after a while, "they're really gonna help us? They don't even know me."

"They know me", Willow told her, noticing how Pat glanced into the rear view mirror every now and then, keeping out an eye for anyone who might be following them, "and they've helped me before, a couple of times. Don't worry, I told them what is going on, they're perfectly fine with it."

"They know I'm dangerous, right", Charlie mumbled in response, glancing down on her feet and fidgeting in the seat uncomfortably, "if I get angry or upset, I… It's so hard to control it then, I might set something on fire there…"

"They might be able to help you with that", the witch told her, still keeping her eyes focused on the road ahead of them, "they have experience with helping someone control their power."

From the way Pat reached over and grasped her hand, Charlie could tell that there was a deeper meaning behind those words, a story she had no idea about; not wanting to appear too nosy though, especially after having just met the couple a few hours ago, she didn't inquire further, but merely nodded, noting how the demon's eye lit up the moment her gaze fell on Willow.

Again she thought of how Pat had referred to the redhead, calling her her wife; now that she had some time to just sit and observe, she noticed the identical rings they both were wearing, obviously their wedding bands, and nearly shook her head to herself – when she had met Pat for the first time, all those years ago, the demon had been friendly enough with her during the short time they had spent together, but also had been strangely distant, not allowing her to get too close, and had handed her over to someone else at the first chance she had gotten, unwilling to let anyone else into her life.

Obviously though, Willow somehow had managed to penetrate the walls which had kept everyone else from getting close to the taller woman; briefly, she wondered how exactly the witch had accomplished that, then shrugged it off, telling herself that it didn't really matter and that all that counted was that they were happy together, something which was more than obvious simply from how they looked at each other.

While the young woman pondered these things, Pat kept glancing into the rear view mirror, making sure that no one was following them, at least as far as it was possible for her; naturally, there were a few other cars on the road with them, but none of them looked suspicious, allowing her to relax slightly as well even though she knew that she had to keep up her guard, just to be on the safe side.

Briefly, she took her eye off the mirror to glance at her partner again, her hand still resting on the redhead's, fingers lightly curled around Willow's; completely unaware of the fact that Charlie had had similar thoughts just minutes ago, she pondered how she had been back then when she had met the blonde, not cold enough to kill a child, but cold enough to drop said child off at the first chance she'd gotten.

If someone had asked her, she would have told them that she didn't regret it, and that it had been the right thing to do, back then; even though she hadn't been willing to kill Charlie, having her stay with her, raising her and taking care of her had been out of the question back then, with her constantly on the move, looking to sate the need for violence the curse which had made her a demon had instilled in her.

Briefly, she wondered how it might have been, had they run into ten year old Charlie now, after she had found Willow and had given herself to the redhead, body, heart and soul; she entertained thoughts of them raising the child together for a few moments, then smirked to herself as she realized that not all too long from now, they would be doing just that, with a child of their own, created through their love and the sacrifice she had made so willingly to save her lover's life.

Momentarily, the urge to reach over and touch her wife's stomach was so strong that it almost overwhelmed her; telling herself though that now was not the time for this, she fought it down, focusing on the rear view mirror instead in another attempt to make sure no one was following them, her thoughts still focused on the child Willow carried though as the witch drove them through the countryside and to the grounds of the coven.

* * *

"Even though I'm always happy to see you, I didn't think we'd meet again so soon when I left Sunnydale", Natasha greeted the three women as they got out of the car, the coven's head already having been waiting for them at the gate which kept any unwelcome visitors from entering, magical wards on it making sure that not just humans were kept out, "welcome to the coven. You must be Charlie?"

"Yes", Charlie gave back, expecting the elder woman to shake her hand and thus ending up quite surprised when Natasha pulled her into a brief hug instead; then, she moved on to greet Willow and Pat the same way, hugging them slightly longer before she asked them to follow her, leading them through the gate and down the path which would take them to the coven's main house afterwards.

"You're welcome to stay here as long as you want to", she told Charlie as they walked side by side, the couple right behind them, Willow smiling to herself as she glanced around, glad to be here for once without the need for magic rehab, but to help someone else, finally having the chance to fully enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and the beautiful landscape all around them.

"Letting me stay here might put you in danger though", Charlie now said to Natasha, distracting the witch from her glancing around and making her look at the blonde, "the men who are after me are quite powerful, not with magic like you, but with guns and knives… And who knows what else they came up with since they captured me for the first time."

"We are a coven consisting of eight witches, myself included, and three warlocks", Natasha told her in reply, sounding quite confident, "so we pack quite a bit of firepower ourselves. And in that little list, Willow and Pat aren't even included yet – Willow's one of the most powerful witches on this planet, and even though her strength doesn't lie in the magical field, Pat has quite the skills, as well."

"That was a nice way to put it", Pat commented from behind, earning a warm smile from Natasha; she almost automatically smiled back, then her gaze focused on Charlie again, her words making the blonde smile slightly as well when she continued. "To make it simple, we pack a lot of firepower here, no matter what they come up with. If they even find us here. And we're gonna stay here with you for a while, just to be on the safe side."

"But it's your honeymoon", Charlie protested, "isn't it? You just got married a few days ago, didn't you. And now you want to spend your honeymoon looking after me?"

"I wouldn't be able to enjoy it as long as I can't be sure you're safe here", Willow told her in response, smiling at her, "and we can always come back here, it's not like money or time is much of a problem. Maybe next time, we can bring our kid along already."

"Kid", Charlie echoed, surprised, "you have a kid?"

"Kind of", Pat told her, smirking at her wide-eyed look, "I got her pregnant. Long story. It involves a lot of tragedy and a Goddess."

"…you gotta tell me all about that", the blonde declared in reply, making the demon chuckle and nod; then, Natasha spoke up again, telling them that before any stories would be shared, they should get settled in and have something to eat, making them all nod as they kept walking to the main building, eager to get some food and some rest after the exciting start their day had had.


	8. Chapter 8

During the next few days, they settled into a comfortable routine at the coven; while Charlie had lessons with the witches, learning how to control her powers and how to keep herself from giving in to her anger and letting them take control of her, Willow and Pat took long walks on the coven's grounds, enjoying the peace and quiet they so rarely had in Sunnydale and the beautiful landscape.

"I was at this tree a lot", Willow told the demon during one of those walks, leading her over to said tree, a stout and clearly old oak, "especially during my first stay here, after… Tara and Warren and everything, when things didn't go well… It always helped me to calm down. I think Giles found me here a dozen times."

"It is a nice place", Pat agreed, following the redhead to the base of the tree and sitting down there with her, leaning her back against the rough bark, Willow taking the chance given by her position to sit down in front of her, ending up between her slightly spread legs, her back resting against the taller woman's front, the demon putting both arms around her as soon as they both had gotten comfortable.

"You know, I can see how this place helped you to regain control", the taller woman mumbled after they just had sat in silence for a while, enjoying being so close to each other and the peaceful atmosphere, "it's really peaceful here. And they all seem so friendly."

"Yes", Willow agreed at once, nestling deeper into the tender embrace and smiling as she looked down at the demon's hands resting on her stomach, the wedding ring glistening in the sunlight, "it seems that one warlock who was so annoying when I was here the last time left or something, at least, I haven't seen him around, and the others have all always been very kind."

"Maybe he's hiding because this time, I'm here with you", Pat chuckled, making the witch giggle slightly as well, "and since people who don't know me quite often think I'm scary, he might stay away from you just to make sure I don't hit him."

"Could be", the redhead agreed with a giggle, turning slightly in her embrace so she could look at her, "and even though I should tell you not to hit humans, I don't think I'd do that for him. He was really annoying."

"Good think he's not around now then", the taller woman smirked, earning another giggle and nod from her partner; and then, she leaned in for a tender kiss, a kiss which soon deepened, the black haired woman's hands moving to gently caress her back, sliding beneath her shirt moments later so she could do so from skin to skin.

"Hmmm", Willow let out after pulling back from the kiss, looking at her with her eyes sparkling, "you're getting me all worked up out here. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"We can always go back to our room", Pat suggested in response, "especially now, I bet no one's around in the house right now to hear anything."

"Good point", Willow had to admit, smiling at the way the demon was looking at her, her lust more than obvious; she leaned in for another quick kiss, then got up from her seat on the ground and held her hand out to the demon, her smile widening when immediately, Pat grasped it and came to her feet again as well.

Still holding hands, they started moving away from the tree and down the path that would take them back to the main building; they were walking at a brisk pace, not quite running, but rather close to it, both of them suddenly keen to get there so they could continue what they had started beneath the oak minutes ago.

Just as they had made it halfway to the building though, a figure appeared in the distance, waving frantically at them; the couple exchanged a look, already knowing that this couldn't mean anything good – before they did start to run, the figure moving to meet them, soon being close enough so they could recognize her as Emilia, one of the coven's witches.

"Come quick!" she called out to them, a pillar of thick black smoke now beginning to rise into the sky in the distance, making Willow's heart beat faster as she knew what this had to mean, "they came here, they found her and she's losing control!"

"Catch up", Pat told Willow in response, both of them knowing that she was the one who'd be able to get there faster, thanks to a demon's strength and stamina, "and if she's in fire rage mode, stay away from her."

"Don't get hurt", the witch replied, pulling her down for a brief kiss afterwards; squeezing her hand briefly, the demon merely nodded in reply, then turned and started to run towards the pillar of smoke, the redhead and Emilia following her at a safe distance, exchanging worried looks as they both asked themselves how badly Charlie had lost control and what they might find once they'd reach her.

* * *

By the time Pat had made it to the blonde's location, the fire was everywhere around her, burning the grass, one of the smaller buildings of the coven and the cars which were parked a few meters away from her; mindful of the burning vehicles in particular, not wanting to be too close to them in case they blew up, the demon stopped, her gaze fixing on Charlie as the blonde stood with her back to her, her whole body trembling as she struggled with her powers.

Immediately, Pat noticed that she wasn't the only one paying close attention to her; apart from two witches and one warlock from the coven, two men who obviously were from the Shop had taken cover behind the closest tree, something the demon didn't view as all too smart, considering how flammable trees were, guns pulled and ready, but not shooting, at least not yet.

"Stand down!" one of them now called out, "or we'll shoot!"

"Way to go", the black haired woman mocked under her breath, "upset her even more, that surely will keep you from getting burned…"

"Get away from me!" Charlie yelled at them, taking a step towards them and actually making them flinch back, the demon only now noticing the other men, five of them, lying unmoving on the ground close to the burning cars, either dead or unconscious, "or I'll burn you too, I swear!"

A clearly visible heat haze started to form around her as her powers focused, the men aiming their guns at her in response, their hands shaking so badly though that it was unlikely they would hit anything, even if they might shoot; before they could do so though, they had a second to notice how her eyes narrowed – and then the weapons heated up in their grasp so fast that they didn't even have the chance anymore to let go of them, the plastic of the grips melting into their skin and making them cry out in pain.

The sheer hurt and shock was enough to drop one of them, his eyes rolling back into his head as he fainted and hit the ground with a low thud; his companion wasn't so lucky, screaming as he shook his hand wildly, the gun still heating up, the smell of burning flesh hitting the nostrils of the bystanders and making them all grimace.

"Charlie", Pat decided that calling out was safe now, with the threat the men had been mostly neutralized, "Charlie, look at me!"

In response, the blonde stiffened visibly, then slowly turned; and the moment her gaze fell on the taller woman, she felt the wave of tremendous heat which came along with it, momentarily hoping that no one who wasn't as immune to fire and all it included was standing behind her before she focused on the other woman again, giving her best to sound calm and soothing when she spoke on.

"You took care of them", she told the blonde, taking a careful step closer to her, relieved when she didn't end up bathed in flames immediately; the fire didn't scare her, but she remembered how Charlie's attack had sent her a few steps back at the airport, and didn't want to imagine the possible force the blonde could put into her attacks now, with her rage so high and her control so far gone.

"You took care of them", she repeated, eager to get through to her, "you can stop. Just look, they're all down or at least unable to fight."

From the corner of her eye, she saw Willow and Emilia arriving, realizing how fast all of this had happened, even though it had seemed much longer to her; she fought the urge to give Willow a warning glance, but kept holding Charlie's gaze, still managing to sound soothing as she took another step closer to her and spoke on.

"You have to calm down, and you know it", she said, frantically hoping that she was finding the right words and wasn't making it worse, "there's no need to use your powers anymore right now, you've taken care of them and they won't take you anywhere."

"I can't", Charlie almost whimpered in reply, clenching her fists as she struggled for control; it slipped, for just a second, but it was enough to set a burst of her powers free, a low grunt coming from the demon when she got hit by it, the fire which quickly spread over her body not harming her, but the sheer blast of the attack being enough to force her back, the startled cry Willow let out not unheard by her, but ignored as she kept all of her focus on the blonde.

"I can't pull it back", Charlie pressed out, sweat forming on her brow, her voice trembling along with her body now, "it's too much, they made me so angry, I have to let it out or it'll kill me, they made me so _angry_ …"

Just for a second, Pat wished that all of this had happened closer to the lake which was part of the coven grounds, knowing that water made it easier for Charlie to let go of her powers, that she could simply direct them into the liquid and use it to neutralize her fire; she briefly entertained the thought of getting her there somehow, then realized that it was too far away and that the blonde's powers were too unstable to allow this, and that there was only one option left if she wanted to keep her from burning down all the buildings and injuring or maybe even killing the witches and warlocks.

"Let it out, then", she thus said, stepping closer to her again, "you know your fire can't harm me, do it, let it out!"

"No", Charlie weakly protested, now moving back from her, shaking her head as if to underline her words, "I'm going to hurt you, I can't…"

"Let go", Pat almost snapped in response, ignoring how Willow was calling to her and the hint of fear she could hear in the redhead's voice, "you want to burn down the houses of the people here instead? The people who helped you and were kind to you? You might injure them, or kill them! Let it out, hit me, come on, do it!"

She took another step closer, eager to goad the blonde some more, perhaps even insult her if this might lead to her unleashing her powers; and just as she took in another breath to do just that, Charlie let out a hoarse cry as her hands shot up, and she had a second to realize how much power exactly the blonde was wielding – before it hit her and sent her flying, her pained grunt mixing with the cry Willow let out when she hit the ground hard, one look at Charlie telling her though that even though this burst had been so powerful, things were still far from over.


	9. Chapter 9

"No!" Willow cried as she watched how Pat came to her feet again, not letting it show if she had been injured from the attack and the way she had crashed to the ground afterwards, "stop it, no!"

Every fibre of her being wanted to run and stand by her, help her against this; before she could do more than think about this though, Emilia had grabbed her arm, shaking her head frantically when the witch's head whipped around so she could glare at her.

"You're not immune to the fire like she is!" the other witch then pointed out, her grasp on her arm tightening to make sure the redhead wouldn't try to break free, "you'll get killed!"

"She's going to hurt her!" Willow snapped in response, struggling at the surprisingly tight grip Emilia had on her, "let go of me, I have to help, she…"

"Let it all out", they heard Pat command, the struggle forgotten momentarily as they both focused on the demon and Charlie again, "come on, do it! Don't hold back now, you know you want to get rid of it, so come on!"

"No, stop!" Willow shouted as Charlie did just what the taller woman had asked from her, unleashing yet another burst of her powers against her; again, the flames didn't hurt her, but the sheer force threw her down on her knees, Willow beginning to struggle again as this time, blood dripped to the ground, her eyes wide with fear.

"There has to be some other way!" she cried, trying to gain the attention of both of them, to make this stop; she could hear how Charlie let out a sob, knowing that she was harming the one person who had helped her back then when she had been little, but also knowing that there was nothing else she could do – once her powers had reached a certain momentum, all she could do was let them out, or they would destroy her, burn her up from the inside and then probably still consume everything around.

"No!" she heard Willow scream as another surge of power blasted from her cursed mind and hit the black haired woman, this time not forcing her down, but sending her to the ground flat on her back again, more blood pouring from freshly opened cuts; and still there was so much power left, so much which had to get out one way or another.

"I'm sorry", Pat heard Charlie whimper as she struggled to her feet yet again, her teeth grit against the pain; she heard the redhead call out to her, frantically pleading her to stop this, but knew that this wasn't an option, not if she wanted to keep them all from getting hurt or even killed.

Having run out of words to say, she settled for holding Charlie's gaze as she started moving towards her again, eager to keep the distance between them small; she knew that this would only force her to take more of the blast's strength, but simultaneously, it would ensure that there wouldn't be any collateral damage, the demon reminding herself that she could heal any damage done to her body as she took yet another hit, feeling something break and tear inside her due to the sheer force of it, a pained groan escaping her as she fought to stay on her feet.

"No, please, no", Willow whimpered, Emilia still grasping her tight to keep her from rushing into the line of fire; apart from holding her back though, the other witch was fully focused on what was happening with Charlie and Pat, knowing how torturous it had to be for the redhead to be forced to simply watch how Charlie hit her lover again and again, and how she came back to her feet over and over, willing to take it all just so they would be safe.

Then, finally, it seemed as if Charlie was reaching the end of the line, the heat haze around her vanishing as she trembled all over; and seconds later, her head snapped back into her neck as she let out an anguished cry, sending the last few remains of her powers against the demon, the blast hitting her with bone-breaking force and throwing her down flat on her back yet again, blood pouring from her nose and ears as she remained there motionless while Charlie collapsed as well, her energies spent and gone now, the sight of a panicked Willow running to her lover's side being the last thing she saw before the world went dark around her.

* * *

The moment Charlie had gone down, Emilia let go of Willow, knowing that now, there was no point anymore in holding her back; and the blink of an eye later, the witch was running away from her and to where her lover laid, calling out her name as she reached her, the other witches and the warlocks now moving over to the demon as well, eager to prevent the redhead from accidentally hurting her even worse after she had saved them all.

"Don't!" Emilia called out when Willow looked as if she wanted to pull her lifeless wife into her arms, "you might make it even worse, don't move her!"

Realizing that the other witch was right, the redhead fought down the urge to pull Pat into an embrace; instead, she grasped her hand, her heart racing up to her throat as she said her name again, the sight of the blood which still trickled from the demon's nose and ears only causing her worries to grow as she asked herself how badly exactly her lover had been hurt.

"Pat, please", she tried again, squeezing her hand, "please wake up, come on, wake up…"

"Get Amalthea", Emilia told one of the warlocks, the urgency of her request showing her through her voice, "we need to get her stabilized before we can take her anywhere… hurry!"

Nodding, the warlock came to his feet and rushed off; focusing on Willow again, Emilia placed a calming hand on her shoulder, giving her best to sound soothing when she spoke on, even though the redhead refused to look at her, but kept her gaze focused on her lover.

"Amalthea is our best healer", she let the witch know, rubbing her back now in an attempt to calm her down, knowing that the last thing they needed now was that the redhead would lose control as well, "she'll help her, and she'll be okay…"

To her relief, Willow at least acknowledged this by nodding slightly, her gaze never leaving the demon's still form; the only movement coming from the taller woman was the slow rising and falling of her chest, showing that at least, she still was breathing, the trickle of blood from her nose and ears by now having died down, but both of them knowing that this only pointed to more serious injuries.

A few feet away, Charlie had recovered enough to get up again, stumbling slightly before she moved to where Pat had ended up on the ground; and for a few moments, Willow wanted to be angry at her, wanted to unleash her power against her to show her what she had done to her wife, an impulse she quickly fought down though, telling herself that what had happened wasn't really the blonde's fault and that she hadn't had much of a choice.

"I'm so sorry", Charlie brought out as she reached the couple, sounding as if she was close to tears, "please, I… I never meant to hurt her… please tell me she's alright…"

"She will be", a new voice answered her before Willow had the chance to do so, Amalthea having arrived just in time to speak up, "we'll heal her and she'll be fine."

She smiled calmingly at the blonde, then knelt down next to Willow; if anyone had taken a quick look at her, they quickly would have written her off as an not all too remarkable person, her slightly plump body and face and the grey hair held back in a loose bun making her look like the cliché of the lovely grandmother, the powers she possessed only noticeable to those who knew how to look for them.

"Let's see", she now mumbled, holding her hands over the black haired woman's body, closing her eyes as she focused; next to her, Willow kept holding Pat's hand, but now watched how soft light started to flow from the other witch's palms, pouring over the demon's body for a minute before it vanished, Amalthea frowning to herself when she opened her eyes again seconds later.

"Internal injuries", she then mumbled, shifting slightly so she could place one hand on the demon's chest and the other on her head, "I'll just have to heal her a bit, then we can get her inside and I can do the rest…"

Even though she wanted to add her own powers to this and help, Willow just nodded, swallowing heavily at how helpless this was making her feel; she had healed the demon before on her own, and it had gone well, but back then, all she'd had to do had been to stabilize Pat enough to have her wake up so she could get up and heal on her own, from a single injury and not a whole bunch of them.

What Amalthea had to do though was much more complicated than what she had done back then, and that already had been very delicate work; and thus, knowing that adding her own powers might only make it harder for the elder witch, Willow ignored the urge, merely watching how the other witch focused again, closing her eyes as she mumbled under her breath, the power she poured into her magic radiating off of her so strong that the redhead could feel it.

Still holding on to the demon's hand, Willow gave her best to fight down her anger again when Charlie once more told her that she was sorry; she just nodded in reply, not able to bring herself to saying anything, the blonde to her relief keeping quiet afterwards, the witch sure that she would have ended up snapping at her if she'd apologized again.

"Alright", Amalthea mumbled a few minutes later, pulling back her hands, "we better get her inside now. I still have to do some more healing, but for now, it should be enough…"

"I'll go get the stretcher", Emilia offered, making the elder witch nod; coming to her feet, she hurried off to get it while Willow focused on her lover again, silently telling her again that she'd be alright as she squeezed her hand tenderly, only letting go of her when Emilia and the warlock she had sent to get Amalthea in the first place came back with the stretcher so they could place her on it, following them into the infirmary moments later, still hoping and praying that her partner would be okay.


	10. Chapter 10

Once they had arrived at the infirmary and Pat had carefully been moved from the stretcher to one of the beds there, Amalthea sat down next to her again and began the healing once more; she kept it up for almost an hour, time during which Willow sat on the other side of the bed and yet again held her wife's hand, the elder witch only stopping when she could feel her power run out and realized that she needed a break.

"I'll continue as soon as possible", she promised the concerned Willow, making the redhead nod slightly, "I promise. But for now, I need to recharge a bit, and Pat should get some rest…"

"I'll stay here with her", the witch mumbled in response, her gaze never leaving her partner's still so dreadfully lifeless form, "just in case she wakes up…"

"Of course", Amalthea gave back, not really surprised by this – it was the first time she had met the demon, but when Willow had come to the coven after the dark magic within her started to take control of her, she had noticed how her eyes started to shine whenever she mentioned the taller woman, the fact that now, they had arrived as a married couple only underlining how much Pat meant to her.

"Just call for me in case anything happens", she added, making Willow nod; she took another moment to smile at the redhead, then left the room, something the witch didn't even notice anymore though, fully focused on her partner again.

Now that she had time for a closer look, she felt her heart clench up at how beaten up the taller woman looked; if she hadn't known what had happened, she would have thought that Pat had gone up against a prized fighter – with her hands tied behind her back and hung over from a night of drinking or somehow otherwise incapacitated, unable to fight back as the blows started raining down on her.

Apart from the internal injuries Willow knew she had suffered, there were cuts and bruises all over her face, showing how badly Charlie's attacks had hit her; her clothing was torn in several places, more bloody und bruised flesh showing through the tears, the witch knowing that the remains of her shirt and pants only hid more wounds, evidenced by the sticky, by now dried reddish-brown stains which had formed on them.

Again, her mind's eye replayed how the taller woman had gone down, the blood which had poured from her ears and nose; this made her wonder if she had suffered brain damage, as well, dreadful thoughts of her partner never waking up again or being reduced to a vegetative state briefly taking hold of her mind before she forcefully pushed them aside, telling herself that surely, Pat would be okay, just as Amalthea had promised.

"You'll be okay", she said out loud, her thumb tenderly caressing the black haired woman's fingers, a weak smile curling her lips when she felt the wedding band, the metal surprisingly warm against her skin, "you hear? Amalthea is gonna heal you enough so you can get up and do the rest, then you'll be okay… I won't allow anything else, with us just married for a few days…"

Even though she wasn't sure it was a good idea, with no way to know how badly the demon really was hurt, she bent down to tenderly kiss her on the lips, momentarily startled by how cold they were; and just as she pulled back, the door opened and Charlie stood there, looking so crestfallen and depressed that, even though she wanted to be angry at her, Willow couldn't help herself, but just had to feel sorry for her, giving her a small smile and a nod when the blonde asked if she could enter.

"I'm so sorry", Charlie told her again the moment she had done so and had closed the door behind herself, giving the witch another miserable look, "I swear I didn't want to hurt her, but…"

"She'll be fine", Willow reassured her in response, giving her another tiny smile, "she's strong and… robust. And Amalthea will heal her, she's just taking a break now to recharge, it's very delicate work…"

Realizing that she was close to rambling, she made herself shut up; momentarily, Charlie looked a bit overwhelmed, then just nodded and sat down opposite of her, the regret in her eyes when she looked at Pat only making it easier for the redhead to not blame her anymore for what had happened.

"I wish there could have been another way", the blonde mumbled, running a hand which just was trembling enough to let Willow notice through her hair, "but I had to put the power somewhere, and she was right, if I hadn't let it out against her, I might have hurt or killed someone of the coven… and destroyed their home…"

"I know what it's like to have power you can't always handle", Willow told her in response, making her look up at her again, "and how hard it can be to get it back under control once it's been lost… So I understand. And I know there was no other way, Pat was right, and she wouldn't have let you attack her if there had been anything else she could have done…"

"I know", Charlie sighed, "but that doesn't make it any easier… She helped me so much back then, when I was little. If they had sent anyone else to kill me, someone who wouldn't have minded killing a child… but they sent her, because my fire can't harm her, and she saved me."

She smiled slightly, the look of hero worship entering her eyes again and making the redhead smile as well; for a few moments, there was silence, then the blonde spoke on, her gaze now fixed on the demon again.

"I wanted to stay with her, you know", she mumbled, "I asked her if I could, in fact, but she said no. Now, in hindsight, I suppose it was for the best, but back then I was really hurt, my powers had caused so much harm already, and there was this person who couldn't be harmed by them, and she wouldn't let me stay with her…"

"It was better, trust me", the redhead gave back, smiling as she thought back all those years, when the demon had realized that she was falling in love with the woman she originally had been planning to use to finish her job, feelings she never had been forced to deal with before in her long life, "even if she might have tried, she wouldn't have been ready to take proper care of you…"

"Probably not", Charlie agreed with a smile of her own, "to be honest, I was quite surprised when she said you're her wife. I didn't think she'd be the type for marriage."

"I don't think she was until we met", Willow shrugged, "and even then, it took her a while to get used to the whole idea. But she's the best partner I can wish for now, and I'm glad to have her in my life…"

"Happy to hear", Pat croaked before the blonde could reply something, in a voice even hoarser than usual; startled, Willow jumped while Charlie flinched slightly as well, the redhead smiling moments later, bending over her partner so she could look at her without having to turn her head, an action which surely would have been painful for her.

"There you are again", she mumbled, neither her, nor the demon paying any attention to Charlie anymore, fully focused on each other, "I was starting to worry about when you might wake up again. How do you feel?"

"As if a truck hit me", Pat gave back, grimacing, prompting Willow to squeeze her hand tenderly, "which is pretty much what happened, huh."

"If you want to call me a truck, yes", Charlie threw in, now gaining the attention of the two, "and I'm so sorry, even though I know this won't make you feel any better…"

"Not your fault", the demon rasped in response, "and the energy had to… go somewhere. Just glad no one else got hurt."

"Except for those government goons", Willow pointed out, "and now that they know we are here, they're probably gonna strike again sooner or later… I don't think you scared them off, Charlie."

"I know I didn't", the blonde glumly replied, giving her an unhappy look, her next words prompting the witch and the demon to exchange an uneasy glance as they knew that she was right, but also were well aware of the fact that Pat was in no shape to travel anywhere yet, even if she had been healed enough to wake up again.

"They're not gonna stop", Charlie mumbled, staring off into the distance, more talking to herself than to the couple, "I can feel it, they're not gonna stop coming after me… Not this time."


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm sorry Amalthea, I know you are not recharged yet, but we need to leave as soon as possible", Willow told the elder witch five minutes later, giving her a pleading look, "they know Charlie's here now, they're gonna come after her again, and we need to get out of here or you'll all be in danger…"

"I understand", Amalthea gave back, sounding slightly helpless, "but I'm not sure there is anything I can do right now… You know healing is delicate work, Willow, and if I try again too soon, I might make her worse instead of better."

"I know", the redhead gave back, "but we can't stay here longer than absolutely necessary, they might strike again soon, and with more force this time… I'll help in any way I can, you can tap into my power, I know it's possible."

"It is", Amalthea confirmed, even though the hint of caution which had entered her voice made it obvious to the witch that more was to come even before the elder woman did speak on, her words prompting the redhead to look rather crestfallen. "It's not easy though, not even with someone highly trained in magic… and even more difficult, and more dangerous, to tap into the powers of someone who's not fully in control."

For a moment, Willow wanted to protest, tell her that she was in control, that the darkness within her had no chance to take hold of her mind again; and then, as she realized that this would have been a lie, she kept quiet, merely letting out a shaky breath while she ran a trembling hand through her hair.

"I realize though that you do not ask this from me for selfish reasons", Amalthea went on after just studying her in silence for half a minute, "this might make it easier for me to tap into your powers. And I know that you are right, and that every minute you stay here longer puts all of us in danger."

"So you're gonna do it?" the witch wanted to know, just to clarify; to her immense relief, Amalthea nodded, making her smile slightly, then gave her a concerned look, the same emotion in her voice when she spoke up again. "Yes, I will do it, but the moment I sense just the tiniest bit of darkness in your strength, I will stop and we'll have to find another way. Alright?"

"Alright", Willow agreed at once, figuring that this was reasonable; giving her another smile, Amalthea nodded, the witch's agreement clearly having satisfied her need for caution, then making it the redhead's turn to nod by suggesting that they should get started right away then.

"We won't have to heal her much", the witch added as they moved back to the infirmary, "just enough so she can get out of bed and stand upright long enough to change and heal."

"I know", the elder woman gave back, "and this is quite fortunate, if we had to heal her completely, it might be even more difficult and dangerous."

"One of the perks of being married to a demon, I guess", Willow smiled, making Amalthea laugh slightly while she nodded, a hint of mischief in both her eyes and voice when she replied. "Among other things, I'm sure. It surely doesn't hurt to have a partner with above average strength when one deals with the supernatural as often as you do, correct?"

"Indeed", Willow had to agree, with a small laugh of her own, "but trust me, that wasn't the reason why I started dating her. I didn't even know she's a demon when we got together…"

"I know", the elder woman repeated her earlier words, "you've told us when you came here again after that whole mess with Mel and her treachery… We were all glad to hear that your relationship didn't crumble after what she did to the two of you, and not just because coming here after a bad breakup would have made regaining control even harder."

Nodding, the witch smiled back at her, then both fell silent as they reached the infirmary; carefully, not wanting to wake Pat up in case she had gone back to sleep, Willow opened the door, smiling when her gaze met the demon's, the taller woman returning her smile weakly, one closer look being enough to tell the redhead that her wife was in pain, even though she, as always, was trying to hide it.

"We're gonna try healing you again now", she thus told her, eager to make her feel better, and not wanting her to suffer any longer, "Amalthea will tap into my powers so she can fix you enough that you can get up and heal the rest on your own, then we can get moving again… Where's Charlie?"

"Went to get some rest", Pat muttered in reply, the weak sound of her voice only another sign for how bad her injuries still were, "she figured she should get at least a bit of sleep before we head out again…"

"Good thinking", Willow had to agree, and if her head hadn't been pounding as if someone was hitting her on top of her skull with a glowing hammer, Pat might have nodded; thanks to her headache, she just let out a vaguely agreeing noise, fighting to keep her eye open as the two women made their way to her bed.

"You'll feel better soon", the witch promised her, having noticed how hard it was for her to stay awake, "I promise. Just try to relax and don't move, you know this is delicate work…"

Letting out a vaguely agreeing noise, the demon gave her best to hold still as the two women sat down left and right to her bed, Amalthea yet again placing one hand on her chest while she held the other one out to Willow, the redhead taking careful hold of it, breathing deeply as she made herself calm down and focus on lending her power to the elder witch.

For a few more moments, nothing happened, both of them focused on channeling their magic; and then, the demon let out a surprised gasp as she felt the energies within her, mending the broken bones and injured, bruised flesh and internal organs, her fingers tightening on the blanket at how unpleasant this felt. Whenever she healed with her demonic abilities, she could feel it, too, could even hear the broken bones knitting back together, a soft, strangely whispering sound; still, it never had felt as strange as this healing did, the fleshy noises she could hear within her not helping with making her feel any better about this.

"Almost there", Amalthea mumbled, sweat having formed on her brow, "just a bit more…"

On the other side of the bed, Willow's grip on her hand tightened slightly as she felt the elder witch access more and more of her power; and just when she started to worry that perhaps, Amalthea might take too much, the elder woman let go of her and sat back with a heavy breath, a slight smile on her face afterwards as she glanced at the demon.

"How do you feel?" she then asked, "healed enough to get up and do the rest yourself?"

"Yeah", the taller woman replied without missing a beat, even though she wasn't as sure about this as she should be; years of being with Willow though had given her enough experience to tell that Amalthea was close to being drained, and she didn't want to imagine what might happen if she'd borrow even more power from Willow, the redhead looking slightly exhausted as well.

Obviously, Willow knew her just as well by now, since she momentarily frowned, looking as if she wanted to protest – only to keep quiet after all after taking another, closer look at Amalthea, merely telling the demon to be careful instead when she moved aside so Pat could get out of bed.

Giving her best to hide the pain she still was feeling, the demon did just that, carefully coming to her feet; for a moment, she feared that her legs might not be willing to carry her, relieved when they did hold up after all and she didn't end up slumping back down, the concerned look Willow shot her not missed by her as she took in a few deep breaths.

"Step back", she then mumbled, getting ready for the transformation, "I don't want to burn you."

Nodding, the witch did so, even though she wanted to remain close so she could support the taller woman in case something went wrong; feeling slightly nervous, she watched how Pat started the change, Amalthea seeming quite fascinated by the process as well, even though she looked a bit worried when flames started to flicker all over the black haired woman's now much bulkier body.

"Don't worry", Willow mumbled, having noticed the look, "she's not gonna set the house on fire, she's got control over it."

"Good to hear", the elder witch gave back, still a bit nervous, her relief quite obvious when the healing finished and the demon changed back to her much less fiery human form.

"There", she then stated, "all better. Now let's go and get Charlie and get out of here before the Shop goons make a reappearance."

"Take care", Amalthea threw in while Willow nodded, "and call us anytime you need help. We'll be happy to assist you in any way we can…"

"Thanks", Willow smiled, making the elder witch smile back; and then, they headed off to find Charlie, eager to get moving again, knowing that they had to find another at least temporarily safe place to figure out how to resolve this whole mess without any more bloodshed.


	12. Chapter 12

Terribly sorry for how long it took me to post this, but the holidays and then work were superbusy… hopefully, I'll soon be back on schedule though :) Enjoy and Happy New Year!

* * *

"So where are we going now?" Charlie wanted to know as Willow drove the car off the coven's lands, through the gate and back on the road, fidgeting on the back seat slightly uneasily, "the place I had here isn't an option anymore, and neither is your hotel…"

"Nope", Pat agreed, "and honestly, I have no idea. We just have to get away from the coven for now, just to keep them safe, in case they strike again."

"They will", Charlie grumbled, now sounding dismayed again, "I told you, they're not giving up… Not this time."

"Why not go public again?" Willow wanted to know, slowly getting used to driving on the left side and thus by now capable of participating in the conversation, "like you did back then? That helped you then, right?"

"Yes, for a while", Charlie agreed, "but I'm not sure it might work again… I'm not the cute eleven year old I was back then. And it didn't stop them from sending an assassin after me, just from the open chasing."

"Good point", the redhead had to admit, frowning slightly, having to admit that she didn't have many other ideas – she had been to England before, but her stays there had been limited to the coven grounds, and she'd never had the chance to venture out and see anything else of the country.

"You don't happen to have a house here or something, right", she wanted to know, briefly glancing at her lover, not surprised, but still a bit dismayed when Pat shook her head in response.

"Unfortunately not, no", the demon then sighed, "never been here long enough to justify buying one. Some of my old contacts might still be around, but they probably won't be happy to see me, if they learned what I've been doing for the past few years."

"And they probably did", Willow had to admit, liking the whole situation less and less, "word in the demon world does travel rather fast, or so Anya always said."

"She's right", Pat confirmed, "it does. So I bet they all know, and if I'm lucky, they'll try to kill me on sight the moment they spot me."

"If you're lucky?" Charlie echoed, disbelief in her voice, "what would be unlucky, then?"

"They'd chain me up and torture me", the demon replied, sounding rather unperturbed by the thought, having forgotten that Charlie hadn't had as much exposure to demons and their ways as she and her wife and friends had; only when the younger woman let out a gasp, she realized this, feeling a bit guilty momentarily as she turned in her seat slightly to look at her.

"Sorry", she apologized, "I've completely forgotten that, unlike everyone else I know, you're not very familiar with demons and their ways… didn't mean to freak you out."

"It's okay", Charlie mumbled, "but now I'm even more worried. I mean, what if we accidentally run into one of your old… contacts?"

"Then we'll deal with them", Pat reassured her, getting into a more comfortable sitting position again, "we've done it before. It's kinda what we do, back in Sunnydale."

"Good to know", the blonde sighed, slumping back into the seat, "so at least we won't have to worry about that, right? I guess that's some—"

The two low bangs interrupted her, and she just had a second to ask herself what had happened – before Willow let out a noise of surprise and dismay as the car started to veer, her grip on the steering wheel tightening until her knuckles where a stark white as she fought to keep the car under control while both Charlie and Pat grabbed on to the door handle at their sides, the demon letting out a low curse as the car veered off the road and onto the grassy, uneven ground next to it, the redhead stepping down on the brake in an attempt to make it stop before they might hit one of the trees growing next to the road.

Finally, the car came to a halt, fortunately without crashing into anything first; letting out a heavy breath, Willow let go of the steering wheel, running a shaky hand through her hair and attempting to calm herself down before she asked if everyone was alright.

"Yeah", Pat was the first one to answer, giving her a worried look, "are you?"

"Fine", Willow gave back, "just a bit shaken up… What the heck just happened?"

"Not sure", the demon grumbled, "but I don't like it one bit. Stay in the car, I'll have a look around…"

"Be careful", the witch told her while Charlie just nodded, glancing around uneasily even though she couldn't see much from inside the car; reassuring her that she would be, Pat got out of the vehicle, briefly glancing around before she moved to the front of the car, not surprised to see that both tires had been slashed, the sight of the ruined rubber explaining the bangs they had heard before the car had gone out of control.

Frowning, she pondered how small the chances of both tires bursting for no reason at exactly the same time were while she turned away from the car and back to the road; a glint there caught her eye, and she frowned as she started moving closer to it, her suspicions only rising when the sound of engines came up in the distance, approaching them fast.

A final, closer look at the glinting object on the road showed her that it was what she had feared, a slim band of steel stretching the whole length of the road, with spikes protruding from it, long and sharp enough to easily slash their tires to pieces, alarm bells going off in her mind as she turned and hurried back to the car, one look at her face being enough to prompt Willow to get out of the vehicle seconds later, Charlie following suit.

"It's them", Pat told them, not having to explain who she was talking about, "they're coming, we gotta get moving, now!"

"We can't outrun them if they have cars!" Charlie argued back, sounding so mortified that Willow feared she might freeze up any moment, "we have to do something else!"

Realizing that she was right, the demon ran both hands through her hair in an attempt to figure out what they could do, especially with her not capable of physically fighting the men; and then, the cars had caught up to them and had surrounded them, guns pointed at them from every angle, one of the men barking at them to raise their hands where he could see them, the uncaring and cold sound of his voice only another indicator for the trouble they were in now.

* * *

"Charlene McGee", the obvious leader of the group added after the three had complied and had raised their hands above their head, "if you surrender and come along with us, your friends will not be harmed! We have no interest in them!"

A closer look at the guy while he was talking revealed that, over the standard suit and shirt attire, he was wearing some sort of protective clothing, the demon figuring that it was against fire; his companions were dressed in the same garment, making it harder for Charlie to hurt them, with their faces and hands not covered, the demon still giving them points for the effort as she studied them.

"She's not coming with you", she raised her voice before Charlie had the chance to say anything in response to that offer, "because she knows what you're gonna do to her. She told me all about it, you know! About that one guy her father told her about, the guy who could unlock doors and bend spoons? And got stuck with you guys, in a room with a door he couldn't unlock, bending spoons and unlocking locks all day – is he still with you? How crazy is he by now?"

"That was then", the man replied, losing some of the points he had gained again by not realizing that she was stalling, keeping him busy talking so both Willow and Charlie time to come up with something, "we are not like this anymore. We want her cooperation, we don't want her as a prisoner."

"And that's why you're aiming a dozen guns at us, right", Charlie was the one to answer that, the sarcasm in her voice nearly making Pat smirk with approval, "because you want me to _cooperate_. And do what for you, exactly? Light fires all day, like you wanted me to back then, when you first had me, twenty years ago?"

"We want to learn more about your abilities", the man replied, obviously not realizing how ridiculous that sounded, "we know how you got them, but we want to know more about them."

"You know all there is to know about them", Charlie replied at once, a slightly malicious smile curling her lips now which prompted Pat to shoot her a worried glance, the demon still remembering well what had happened the last time she had gotten angry – and from the look which entered the leader's face, he did so, too, either having been there to witness it or having been told in enough detail to scare him.

"Don't try hurting any of us", he warned, raising his gun slightly as if to underline his words, "our boss would prefer it if we brought you in alive and unharmed, but we are permitted to use lethal force."

"And you wouldn't want your friends to get hurt", another man threw in, the hint of nervousness in his voice giving away that he wasn't as secure as he was trying to sound, "do you? Just come with us, and they can go wherever, and no one needs to get hurt. You can't burn us all at once, you know!"

"No", Willow now spoke up for the first time, automatically making the man look at her, his nervousness becoming even more visible at the look on her face, an expression which somehow managed to be both serenely calm and threatening, the slow smile which now curled her lips clearly not making him feel any better.

"She can't burn you all at once", the witch now went on while Pat fought the urge to move closer to her, all at once fearing that this wasn't her lover talking, but the darkness within her, ready to unleash something horrible at the unsuspecting men who clearly had no idea about who they were, "and neither can I. But I can do other things."

And at the last word, her hands dropped, pointing at the men now instead of the sky; she ignored the warning one of them shouted at her, her eyes narrowing as she accessed the magic within her, a light breeze coming up as if in response, a definite sign of magic about to happen for anyone who knew what was going on.

"Don't kill them, Sweetie", Pat still had time to say, slightly relieved when Willow gave her a barely perceptible nod in reply – and then she unleashed her powers at the men, some of the firing their guns in exactly the same moment, and all Hell broke loose.


	13. Chapter 13

The moment the first bullets were fired, Willow had whipped up a shield, a magical barrier which filled the air in front of the three women with a weak blue glow; whenever a bullet hit the barrier, there was a brief flash of brighter light, then the bullet was gone, absorbed by the magic.

"Wow", Charlie whispered, clearly impressed, while the men all momentarily looked confused as their bullets couldn't reach the targets, no matter how often they shot; their expressions briefly gave Pat cause to wonder if perhaps, they couldn't see the barrier and had no idea what was going on, then shrugged it off, telling herself that it didn't really matter and that they had to find a way out of this quickly – from the way Willow flinched just the tiniest bit each time a bullet hit, it was obvious that it wasn't easy for the witch to keep the shield up, and that she couldn't do it indefinitely.

"We gotta come up with something quickly", she thus mumbled to the blonde, making sure to keep her voice down so the men wouldn't hear what she was saying, "she can't keep this up forever, we have to find a way out of this before—" From the corner of her eye, she saw Willow flinch again, then stumble, momentarily convinced that the barrier had taken too many hits and that this was the reason for the redhead nearly going down, something she prevented the last second by catching her and keeping her from hitting the ground; and then, she saw the small arrow now protruding from the witch's neck, just having time for a startled noise before she felt a sharp sting at the back of her own neck, a small cry from Charlie telling her that the blonde had been hit as well.

Gritting her teeth, the demon reached back and found the arrow, pulling it out just as she felt the effects of whatever it had been loaded with taking hold; her knees buckled and she slumped down to the ground, fighting to stay conscious while the men lowered their guns and a few of them started approaching them.

"Good shooting", she heard one of them say, still struggling to stay awake, "but how the Hell did that redhead stop our bullets?"

"No idea", Pat heard another man reply, "we don't have any information on those two yet, do we?"

"No", a third voice gave back, while a pair of feet stopped directly in front of her, the one talking presumably looking down on her as he went on, "not yet. They're still working on that. So what do we do with them now?"

"Take the redhead", the one who clearly was the leader replied, "they might be interested in her after how she stopped the bullets."

"What about her", the man standing in front of Pat wanted to know, going as far as nudging her slightly with one foot as if to make sure the other men knew whom he was talking about, "we're just gonna leave her here?"

"Yeah", the leader decided after half a minute of silence, "I don't think she'll be of any use to them, and it's not like she can do much all on her own. Make sure she's out cold though, the tranquilizer seems to not have kicked in properly yet."

In response, the man standing in front of her bent down and grabbed a fistful of her hair, jerking her head up; for a moment, he held her gaze, the brought his gun up, the last thing the demon saw being the barrel coming down in a hard arc before stars exploded in front of her eye as he hit her, the world going dark moments later as unconsciousness finally claimed her.

* * *

When Pat woke up again, she at first had no idea how long she had been out cold, groaning at the dull ache in her head as she forced her good eye open; she could feel dried blood on her cheek, sardonically asking herself how many more times she'd get injured during the honeymoon while she staggered to her feet, giving her best to ignore the dizziness and the way her stomach wanted to turn inside out at the simple movement.

A quick glance at her watch showed her that she had been out for not even ten minutes, but it had been long enough for the men to get both Charlie and Willow and drive off with them; she was alone in the meadow next to the road, and the only car was theirs, the men and the women they now had taken prisoner gone far enough by now to be out of sight.

"Dammit", the demon growled, then let out an incoherent snarl of pure rage and anger; she cursed herself for failing both her wife and her friend like this, clenching her fists in helpless frustration as she had to realize that on her own, there was nothing she could do, just like one of the guys had said – she had no idea where they had gone, and no way to track them all on her own, not as fast as it had to be done and not without access to the contacts she'd had during her time as an assassin.

"Well, at least you're not far from the coven", she grumbled to herself as she got moving, once again ignoring how dizzy she was feeling as she fell into a light jog; she knew that, thanks to her higher than average stamina and strength, she technically could have run the whole distance, but with how dizzy she was feeling just from jogging, she didn't dare to, not wanting to end up on her knees next to the road and throwing up, or perhaps even fainting yet again.

 _No time for that,_ she thought to herself as she kept jogging, _who knows what they are doing to them right now, can't waste time, have to get them out of there…_

Despite her worries about the combination of the tranquilizer and the hit to the head she had taken, Pat did speed up now, the thought of those men doing some horrible experiments on both Charlie and Willow making his quite easy for her; for half a minute, the world spun around her, then she grit her teeth and told herself that a little bump on the head and some sort of chemical wouldn't slow her down, sheer willpower being enough to keep her going.

 _At least, the weather's not hot,_ she told herself as she jogged, _just imagine having to do this in the Sunnydale desert or something. You'd definitely throw up then._

Realizing that thinking about throwing up when she was close to doing so wasn't the smartest thing to do, Pat quickly derailed that train of thought, focusing on what to tell the coven instead; she didn't want to waste any time with explaining what had happened longer than necessary, but wanted them to get to work right away, so they could locate the two women for her and make it possible for her to get them out of there.

 _And the chip,_ she then realized, _they'll have to do something about that, too, or there won't be much you can do even if they locate them and tell you where they have been taken._

Now that the dizziness was slowly fading, she sped up a bit more, ignoring the risk that this might make the dizziness come back; and finally, the houses of the coven appeared in the distance, a small sigh of relief escaping the black haired woman at the sight.

Speeding up even further, she did run the last mile, relieved when she spotted a few of the witches wandering the coven grounds and thus didn't need to go and search for anyone; they recognized her at once the second she was close enough, startled noises coming from them as they saw the blood on her face and the dirt on her clothes.

"What happened!" one of them cried out, "you're hurt! Where are Willow and Charlie? Are they alright? Did you have an accident?"

"No", the demon answered, now breathing just heavily enough to let it be noticed, "the Shop guys got them, I don't know where they took them, so I need your help to locate them and to shut down that chip in my brain. Now."

"Get Natasha", the witch who had kept the clearest head told one of the others in response, "we need a locator spell, and quickly, one to find humans instead of demons."

Nodding, the witch hurried off to find the coven's leader while the other witches started fussing over the demon, asking her how badly she had been hurt and if she was sure she was alright; reassuring them that she was, Pat held back the urge to remind them of how urgent it was that they did the spell and found Willow and Charlie, knowing that they were well aware of this, but growing more and more anxious with each second that passed, hoping that her wife and her friend both would be alright until she'd get there to free them.


	14. Chapter 14

"Miss Rosenberg, please understand we are just interested in your unique abilities", the woman who had introduced herself as Jane Smith, a name which was so obviously fake that Willow felt almost insulted, told the witch, giving her a smile which probably should have been pleasant, but didn't reach her eyes and thus looked just as fake as her name had sounded, "and not in doing any harm to you or your friend Miss McGee."

"I'm married, so it's Mrs Rosenberg", the redhead coldly corrected her, not even trying to sound friendly; the people of the Shop had been considerate enough to put her in some sort of small apartment instead of a dreary cell, but the fact that it had no windows and the door could only be opened with a key card she didn't have made it quite clear that it was a prison anyway, a nicely furnished one, but a prison nonetheless.

"And for you, it's Dr Rosenberg", she added as an afterthought, giving the woman another cold glance, figuring that there was no need to be even polite; momentarily, the other woman looked a bit taken aback, recovered quickly though and smiled again, a smile which once more wasn't returned.

"We'll just talk a bit", she went on, as if Willow hadn't even said anything, "and maybe you can show us a thing or two. Then you can go and be reunited with your husband, he surely is worried about you, don't you think?"

"Wow", the witch dryly gave back, putting as much sarcasm into her voice as she could without overdoing it, "you guys are really bad at research, considering you're some sort of hotshot secret agency. You couldn't even get the basics right?"

"I'm not sure what you mean", Smith replied, still smiling, prompting the witch to shake her head before she leaned back into her seat, giving her best to appear comfortable and nonchalant, and to hide that she was much more worried about the whole situation than she showed, managing to put the same nonchalance into her voice when she answered the unasked question. "I'm sure my _wife_ will gladly explain the difference to you. Just in case you need some extra education in that field."

"Oh", Smith replied, not all too intelligent, but recovering quickly, "well, forgive me my mistake, doctor. I'm sure our people got all this information by now and just neglected to provide me with it before they sent me here."

"Of course", Willow gave back with a slight roll of her eyes, giving her best to still appear unfazed and unimpressed; and clearly, her behaviour had an effect, as the other woman's gaze momentarily darkened – before she regained control and smiled yet again, getting comfortable in her seat as well, crossing her legs and tugging at her pants before she spoke up again. "So, about your remarkable demonstration out in that meadow", she started, holding the redhead's gaze, "how exactly did you stop the bullets?"

"Wouldn't you like to know", Willow sardonically shot back, "I'm not telling you a thing until I know that Charlie's alright and until you guaranteed you will let us go within the next twenty-four hours, at the latest. Her and me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that", Smith told her, not really surprising her, "but what I can tell you is that we will let you go as soon as we know how you did your little trick with the bullets and what else you can do. Miss McGee will have to stay with us a bit longer, though."

"No info for you, then", the witch gave back, crossing her arms over her chest, "if you want something from me, you'll have to give me something first."

"This not how things work here", Smith replied – and then she practically sprang into movement, getting up from her chair and moving around the table so fast that Willow barely had time to realize what was going on before the other woman had grabbed her neck with one hand and slammed her down onto the table, simultaneously taking a firm hold of her right wrist and forcing her arm back until the witch was sure the bone would break or her shoulder would get dislocated, prompting her to quickly bite down on her tongue so she wouldn't cry out in surprise and pain.

"I'll tell you how this will be done here, _Doctor_ Rosenberg", Smith snarled at her, all fake friendliness now gone from her voice, replaced with a cold, uncaring tone, "you tell me now how you did this, then you'll show me, and maybe, just maybe, we'll let you go then. Or you can keep being an annoying bitch and I get to hurt you until you beg me to tell me everything you know. Your choice."

For a moment, Willow felt like giving in, like telling her how she had done it, even though she knew she wouldn't be let go anytime soon then; and then, she fought the urge down, telling herself that Pat surely by now was on her way to get her out of this, that she'd come with the firepower of a whole powerful coven and that she wouldn't let this woman intimidate her. Momentarily, she regretted that she couldn't flame up at will, the way her partner could, but that it happened only when she was very angry; and even though she was frightened and annoyed, it wasn't bad enough to set off the flames, not yet.

"Fuck you", she pressed out, for once using the language she normally scolded her partner for; the response was non-verbal, but immediate, Smith's grip on her tightening – and then she jerked her arm up to an unnatural position, the redhead not able to hold the cry of pain back anymore as the bone snapped audibly, sending a lance of pain through her arm.

"You might reconsider", Smith coldly told her, not even out of breath, her fingers still clamping down on the smaller woman's wrist and neck like iron, "because there are a lot more bones I can break without killing you. How did you do it?"

In response, Willow grit her teeth, willing the flames to appear and to burn this horrible woman, silently calling out to the powers of the child within her; and seconds later, Smith let out a cry as suddenly, fire burst from the witch's hand and ran up her arm, letting go of her as her skin blistered and reddened and stumbling back, her eyes wide and full of shock and pain.

"Get the Hell out of here", the redhead snarled as she straightened up again, clutching her broken arm with her other hand, "or I'll burn much more of you, I swear."

For a moment, she wasn't sure that the threat might work, briefly wondering if perhaps, Smith was carrying a gun which she now would use against her; and then, the other woman turned, the lock of the door behind her snapping open the second she did so, showing the witch that it could be opened remotely as well and not solely with the key card, a fact she filed away for later as she watched Smith leave, her breath leaving her in a relieved huff. She slumped down on the nearest seat, still tenderly cradling her broken arm, asking herself how much longer she would have to stay here and if there was a way to get out of this before any more harm could be done to her, simply sitting around and waiting for Pat suddenly not an option anymore – not after how easily and uncaringly that woman had hurt her, the redhead well aware of the fact that her colleagues might be the same or even worse than her, not wanting to imagine what else they might do to her to get the answers they wanted from her.


	15. Chapter 15

"I tell you, this is not like McGee's power", one man in a white labcoat told another who was wearing the same kind of garment; this was where the similarities ended though, the one who had spoken being tall, lanky and with a head full of hair so blonde it was almost white while his companion was small and so fat that his height and width were almost identical, sweat glistening on his bald head as he peered at the monitor again.

"When McGee lit fires for them, back then, the whole room heated up", the taller man argued on, hiding his disgust – he couldn't stand working with this small, constantly sweaty and thus smelly guy, but while his hygiene might been questionable, he was one of the best in his field, and thus, the Shop tolerated him, forcing him to do the same.

"And McGee set other things on fire, not herself", he added, pushing all thoughts about how gross this man was to the farthest corner of his mind, "she made water boil and… Hell, why am I telling you this, you've seen the tapes. It was nothing like what that Rosenberg woman did to Trish."

Frowning to himself, the only answer the fat man gave was that he clicked the mouse of the computer they both sat in front of a few times, restarting the video footage of the incident; his lanky companion briefly wondered if the redhead knew that her every movement was being filmed and recorded, then shrugged it off – even if she did, it wasn't as if there was anything she could do about it, with the cameras hidden so that she could never access and destroy them.

On the screen, the video restarted, from the moment on the woman who had introduced herself as Jane, but in reality was called Trish moved over to where Willow was sitting with that stunning speed, grabbed her and slammed her down onto the table; both men had to admit that this was impressive, and clearly something the redhead hadn't seen coming, from the stunned look on her face as she found herself in the iron-like grip of the other woman.

By now, they both had seen the video often enough to know by heart what Trish told their prisoner, the threats she made so casually; still, even though they had seen the recording so many times by now, they both leaned forward as suddenly, fire burst from Willow's hands, then spread up her arms so quickly it was barely possible to follow, forcing Trish to let go of her with a cry of pain and retreat.

"The room temperature didn't change", the tall man now finally spoke up again, both having lost interest in the video once more as they knew what came next, "at all. And while she burned Trish, she didn't harm herself. That's not like McGee, that's some other power. Also, McGee can't stop bullets the way she did."

"So she's not like McGee then, fine", the fat man finally had to admit, sounding grumpy as he did so, "then how does she do it? Did we learn anything about her yet?"

"They're still working on that", the other guy replied, "I talked to Gibbs earlier, he said it's all quite… strange and confusing. Apparently though, she, her wife and a bunch of others were part in taking down that Collard guy's experiment, you know, the one with the soldiers."

"Huh", his companion let out in reply, then apparently shrugged the topic of who exactly this woman was off as he pushed a few buttons on the control panel in front of him, mumbling "let's see what she's doing now" under his breath; still he was loud enough for the other scientist to hear, forcing him to hold back a roll of his eyes – after all, from the way the little fat man was staring at the screen whenever they were monitoring the redhead, he wasn't just looking at her for scientific reasons, thus displaying some highly unprofessional behaviour his colleague found hard to tolerate.

"Hey", the little man now perked up, sounding so surprised that it was almost comical, "Trish broke her arm, didn't she?"

"Yeah", his companion replied, not able to hide his annoyance anymore – they had both seen it happen, after all, a dozen times by now, and even had heard her cry out in shock and pain when the bone had been snapped in two, "why do you ask?"

"Look", was the only reply he got, and with his frown deepening, he bent closer to the screen to do just that, his eyes going wide moments later as he watched the redhead pace up and down in the small apartment, running both hands through her hair every now and then, her arm clearly not broken anymore, even though it so obviously had been not even an hour ago.

"Stay here", he finally croaked, his throat suddenly feeling as if someone had wrapped a length of rope around it and was choking him with it, "keep an eye on her, I have to report this…"

The only response he got was a weak nod, but that was enough for him; without another word, he turned and hurried out of the small office, mumbling a half-hearted excuse as he nearly ran over one of the cleaning personnel, the woman not even glancing at him as she was busy moping the floor, and he forgot about her the second she wasn't in his sight anymore.

He was so focused on reporting this to his superiors that he didn't hear the footsteps following him, then catching up with him; and by the time an arm was wrapped around his throat from behind and a strong hand clamped down on his mouth, it was too late to do anything about it, a surprised, but muffled grunt coming from him as he was dragged into the room next to which he had been grabbed, his breath leaving him in a huff when his assailant slammed him against the wall there.

Belatedly, he realized that the one who had grabbed him was the cleaning lady he had passed not even a minute ago, having a second to ask himself why she was doing this – before she slammed his head back and against the wall and his eyes rolled back into his head as his body went limp, didn't fall though, firmly in the grasp of the black haired woman as she smirked at how easy this had been.

"You know what they say, pal", she mumbled as she lowered his body to the ground, making sure there would be no audible thus caused by him falling down, "never ignore the cleaning personnel. And I think it's time for me to be promoted."

With those words, she took his labcoat off of him, then put it on, glad that the tall one had left the office and not the small fat guy she had seen through the briefly opened door – the labcoat she had now was an almost perfect fit, making it easier to use as a disguise than one which was too short would have.

"Thanks for the coat, man", Pat told the unconscious man, reaching into her pocket and finding the thin nylon ropes she had brought; quickly, two lengths of it had been cut off, and she used those tie him up, then gagged him with a strip of his own shirt, not wanting him to wake up and alarm anyone before she had found both Willow and Charlie, thus taking the time to make sure she had done the knots properly before she left the room again and headed back to where the scientist had come from, knowing that this would be where she'd learn where she had to go next.


	16. Chapter 16

When she pushed the door open as quietly as she could, Pat momentarily froze in mid-movement as the first thing her gaze fell on wasn't the small, fat man, but the monitor said man was staring at, the screen showing her wife pacing up and down in what seemed to be some sort of apartment, looking upset, but at least not hurt.

Getting over her shock quickly though, the demon moved into the room, closing the door behind herself; at the noise, the guy who had been watching her partner started to turn in his seat, but he didn't even manage to complete half the turn before she had reached him, grabbed him and jerked him out of the seat, one glare from an eye which was glowing with a bright red being enough to let the scream he had wanted to let out die down to a small whimper.

"Where is she", the demon pressed out between teeth grit so hard that, had she been calm enough to think about it, she might have worried that they might break, "tell me where the _fuck_ she is, right now, or I swear you'll die screaming."

The only answer she got was that the small bald man let out a little whimper, the sharp smell of urine hitting her nostrils moments later – before his eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp in her grip, a low growl coming from the demon as she realized that he had fainted and that the only thing which was keeping him upright was her hold on him.

"Dammit", she grumbled to herself, lowering him to the ground just as carefully as she had done with his colleague, "stupid coward, just passing out on me…" She wondered if she'd be able to find the room Willow was kept in without anyone to tell her where exactly it was, frowning to herself as she pondered this – before movement on the screen caught her eye and she turned to look, her breath getting caught in her throat when she saw that now, her wife wasn't alone anymore, but that two men had joined her in the room, the lack of audio making it impossible to hear what they were saying, but from the look on Willow's face, it wasn't anything all too pleasant.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit", the black haired woman fretted, then added a "fuck" for good measure, even though she knew this wasn't helping; to her dismay, the building complex to which Charlie and Willow had been taken was bigger than she had thought it would be, and if those men had come to kill the witch, she doubted that she'd find the room where they were keeping her before it'd be too late.

Not sure what to do and how to solve this, she ran both hands through her hair, unable to look away from the screen – and moments later, her breath got caught in her throat yet again as Willow's face hardened, into an expression she had come to know as the Resolve Face, then she raised her hand, glaring at the men as she snapped a few words and sent them flying, until the wall stopped them harshly.

Holding back the urge to cheer, Pat watched, transfixed, how the redhead made her way to the bigger of the two, her glare still fixed firmly in place as she said something to him, then snatched his gun from him and tucked it into the waistband of her jeans; she disarmed the other man the same way, then gestured at them again and they slumped down, clearly out cold, the demon watching how she searched one of them afterwards until she found the keycard which let her leave the room, the sight of the witch doing just that finally being enough to snap Pat out of her stupor.

 _You gotta find her, and fast,_ she thought to herself as she stepped over the limp body of the man she had made faint, then back out onto the hallway, glancing left and right as she tried to figure out where to go, _she handled them just perfectly fine, but you know she can't keep that kind of mojo up forever, and if she's drained before we're out of here…_

She didn't even want to ponder where this might lead any further, grimacing to herself as she forced down a bunch of bad mental images which wanted to rise in her mind's eye; deciding that she had no more time to waste, she got moving again, turning right and heading down the hallway, hoping that this was the correct way to go and that she wouldn't end up moving away from Willow instead of towards her.

Momentarily, she wished that the witch would send a magical distress call again, like she had during that fateful field trip to the abandoned asylum; she knew though that Willow hadn't done this on purpose and thus wasn't sure _how_ she had done it and if it could be replicated, even during times when she was scared for her life.

 _And ever since you got her pregnant, she burns people whenever she gets that scared,_ she then had to realize, grumbling under her breath as this made her realize once more that she still hadn't seen her partner do just that, either having been out cold or not around whenever Willow had made use of her flames so far, _so don't count on her to yell for you. Better go where other people are yelling because she's kicking butt._

The thought made her smirk, briefly, before she remembered that she was posing as one of the Shop's scientists and quickly put on a serious face again; so far, she hadn't run into anyone she hadn't dealt with efficiently and as fast as possible, but that didn't mean that she had to push her luck while searching for her wife.

Footsteps coming up behind her distracted her from those thoughts, and momentarily, she stiffened, then reminded herself of her disguise again and gave her best to appear confident and a bit arrogant; to her relief though, the men who hurried past her didn't even glance at her, the white labcoat being enough to tell them that she, unlike them with their suits and guns, was a scientist, and didn't need to be involved in whatever was going on.

"…find her", she heard one of them say, straining her ears to hear the rest as they were moving away from her quite rapidly, and she didn't want to gain their attention by moving faster and catching up to them, "and do it quick, before she finds McGee. We got…"

The group moved too far out of earshot to let her hear anymore, and she held back the urge to grumble to herself; she sped up slightly, not wanting to lose sight of them if she couldn't hear them anymore, making sure to keep a safe distance to them though, well aware of the fact that probably, a closer look from them at her would let them realize that she wasn't really part of their team.

As they rounded a corner up ahead, she sped up a bit more, soon having her eye on them again; by now, they were almost running, some of them already having one hand on the guns they all were carrying, even though as far as Pat could see, Willow wasn't anywhere near them. She had a second to wonder if they somehow had found out during the last two minutes where the witch had gone, asking herself how many cameras exactly they had all over the place and if the men up ahead perhaps were having ear pieces during which someone told them where the redhead was hiding or going; then, they rounded yet another corner and she had to speed up again so she wouldn't end up losing them after all in this maze of a building, holding back a low grumble as she asked herself if they even were going into the right direction – and if she'd be fast enough to keep them from harming Willow, should they really find her before she did.


	17. Chapter 17

Taking the two men out had been a quick thing she had done more on instinct than thanks to conscious thought, and only once they laid in front of her, Willow realized what she had done, and how much of her power she had fuelled into the spell which had taken care of them; to her amazement though, she felt neither the slightest bit drained, nor exceptionally evil, a quick look into the nearest mirroring surface showing her that she wasn't on the verge of going dark again, her eyes still their natural green colour while her hair was the usual vibrant red shade, no traces of black to be seen anywhere.

"Huh", she let out, not sure what to think of this; she knew that she had a lot of power, more than the average witch, but after lending her power to Amalthea not all too long ago, and after using such powerful magic now, she at least should feel a bit drained, but still it was as if she hadn't done any magic all day.

Then, she shrugged it off, telling herself that she had more than enough time to ponder this once she had found Charlie and they had gotten out of there; briefly, she wondered if Pat was there already or at least on her way to this compound, figuring that the demon would have hurried back to the coven right after waking up, and employing their powers and skills to find out where they both had been taken.

 _Well, if she's here, it won't be hard to find out,_ she then thought to herself as she unlocked the door once she had taken the key card from one of the blokes, then stepped outside, _just go where people are screaming in pain because she's beating them up to find out where I am._

Only then, she remembered the chip still lodged firmly in her partner's brain, grimacing to herself as she realized that perhaps, it might not be so easy to find the taller woman after all; momentarily, she halted, not sure where to go now and what to do, then deciding that she had to find Charlie first and that she could focus on finding her lover once she knew that the blonde was out of danger.

Again, she halted, not sure yet again where to go; then, she briefly closed her eyes as she focused, calling on to her magic, mumbling under her breath as she called forth a light to guide her and take her to where they were keeping the blonde, a smile curling her lips when moments after she had said the last word, a tiny ball made of glowing green light appeared in front of her, bobbing up and down slightly, as if in greeting.

"Take me to Charlie", the witch whispered, not wanting to gain the attention of anyone who might be within earshot; in response, the light started floating down the corridor, and she followed, straining her ears to make sure she might hear anyone approaching before they would hear or maybe even spot her.

 _Let's hope they're not keeping her too far away from here,_ she pondered as she followed the small light, rounding a corner into a thankfully empty corridor, _and that, if Pat is here, we'll find her quickly afterwards so we can get out of here…_

Quickly, she focused on Charlie again, remembering well how focusing on more than one target once had caused the little ball of light to split up in several ones, until there'd been a whole bunch of them, swarming her and nearly making her choke when they had gone up her nose and into her mouth, an experience she didn't want to repeat if she could help it.

Apparently though, her brief thinking of her partner hadn't been enough to cause the light to take it as an order to look for her, as well, and thus split up; there still was just one, and it kept floating up ahead of her, taking her down the corridor and into the first one leading away to the right, the redhead frowning to herself when it stopped in front of a heavy steel door, bobbing up and down slightly.

"This looks like it leads outside", she then pointed out, still making sure to keep her voice low, "are you sure this is the way?"

In response, the light bobbed a bit more enthusiastically; still frowning, the witch decided to take that leap of faith and pushed the door open, the light immediately floating on the second the door had opened enough to let it through, causing the witch's frown to deepen as she hurriedly opened it all the way, not wanting to risk losing her guide – when she heard someone call out in surprise up ahead, followed by gunshots, the bullets thankfully hitting the doorframe instead of her with audible zinging noises.

Quickly, she retreated again, letting the door fall close, more bullets hitting it seconds later; gritting her teeth, and cursing the fact that she hadn't seen how many there were, Willow took a few steps back from it, momentarily feeling like turning and running, before she told herself that this was not an option, that it might only lead to her running into more of the men and women working for the Shop and might even end up cornered by them, with no means of escape left.

"Okay, kid", she mumbled under her breath, hearing footsteps approach from the other side of the door, one hand almost instinctively coming to rest on her stomach, "now would be a really good time to give me some of that fire you let me use whenever things get really bad. They're not really bad yet, but they will be in less than a minute, so…"

She took another step back as the footsteps reached the door, then stopped, a male voice harshly barking commands at the people with him; and then, the handle was slowly pushed down, prompting her to take another step back while sending another frantic thought for the flames she could really need right now, her fists clenching as she readied another spell in case the fire wouldn't come.

As she had expected, the man behind the door didn't push it open harshly, thus not risking that it might hit the wall, bounce back and obscure his vision; instead, he made it swing open slowly, gun ready to fire the moment he'd spot her.

Still, despite how highly trained he surely was for situations like this, and despite how high his focus was, he wasn't fast enough – it would have taken him the blink of an eye to pull the trigger the second his eyes fell on the witch, but she was faster, the spell, a pure blast of energy, leaving her fingertips the very second the door had opened far enough and hitting him just as he pulled the trigger, the shot going wide as the magic hit and threw him down flat on his back.

From his left and right, she could hear several men and women call out in both shock and concern, momentarily cursing the fact that she didn't have her wife's skill, knowing that Pat would have known how many there were and probably could have made a good guess of their exact positions just from hearing them; then, she shrugged it off and decided to stay where she was, figuring that she'd have a chance at picking them off one by one if they had to come through the door and didn't get the chance to jump her.

Clearly though, they had realized the same, not doing her the favour of coming after her one by one; and thus, they were at a stalemate, the witch waiting in the hallway with more magic crackling around her hands while the agents of the Shop were talking to each other outside in hushed whispers, trying to figure out how to take her down without getting any more of their agents hurt or perhaps even killed.


	18. Chapter 18

Unbeknownst to both Willow and the group of agents, Pat was watching the whole thing from a safe distance; she hadn't had an idea that the redhead was so close until she had seen the guy who had opened the door blown back and end up on the grass motionless, hit by what would have appeared to be an invisible force to anyone else, but was easily identified by her as magic, and as far as she knew, there was only one magic wielder who was hostile towards those men and women in that building.

Momentarily, the terrifying mental image of the group of agents storming the area behind the door and simply gunning her partner down filled her mind's eye, but to her relief, they did no such thing; instead, they talked to each other quietly, trying to figure out how to go on, still having no idea that she was there, even though she had followed them all the way through one building and had observed them crossing the lawn to the one Willow obviously was in, all of them too focused on what laid up ahead to pay much attention on what was going on behind them.

 _Sloppy,_ she mentally reprimanded them, _but a good thing for me. Keep focusing on that door for another minute or two, then you'll get a real nice surprise._

Soundlessly, something which was made considerably easier by the fact that she was walking on grass and not gravel or stone, she started sneaking towards the small cluster of men and women, already planning whom to attack first and how to take them all out as quickly and efficiently as possible; before she could get close enough to do so though, one of the men raised his hand, her breath quickening when she spotted the object he was holding.

It didn't look like it so often did in movies and cartons, neither green, nor formed like an egg, but was grey and perfectly round; still she recognized the grenade for what it was, realizing in the same second that the time for stealth was over and that she had to act quickly if she wanted to keep her partner from being blown up by the vile attack.

Letting out a snarl which as loud enough to make a few of them turn their heads in surprise, she clenched her fist, then let it flame up; and then, a brightly burning ball of fire shot from her fist and right into the centre of the group, startled yells coming from them, one of them being a panicked "Duck!" as the man who just had been getting ready to throw the grenade dropped it out of reflex the second the fireball hit.

A few of them managed to get out of the way, but more than half didn't, and when the grenade exploded, it sent them flying, scattering them all over the lawn, screams of pain filling the air as the wounds the fire and the grenade had caused made themselves known.

Still, a few of them remained standing, or were coming back to their feet, reaching for their weapons; snarling again, the demon shot forward, punching the first one she reached hard enough to lift him off his feet, almost freezing on the spot though when in response to hitting the man, a brief twinge of pain flared up in her brain, nowhere near as bad enough as the chip's response to violence against humans usually was, but still serving as a warning that whatever magic the coven had worked on it was wearing off.

 _Well, you better be fast then,_ she told herself, already moving towards the next one, landing another punch, right into his solar plexus, and sending him down when he doubled over in pain by smacking the back of his neck; from the corner of her eye, she saw another man aim a gun at her and, without hesitation, grabbed the woman just moving in to attack, pulling her in front of herself as a human shield just when the man pulled the trigger, a gurgling noise coming from the woman as the bullet hit her.

Again, the chip sent out a slight twinge, a bit stronger this time, but not bad enough to keep her from ignoring it, a low snarl coming from her as she dropped the dying woman and shot forward, tackling the man who had fired the gun and forcing him down to the ground; thanks to the movement, another shot fired from somewhere behind her missed her, a quick punch taking out the guy beneath her, a low groan coming from her this time as the chip fired again in response, causing more pain than it had before.

 _Just a few left,_ Pat told herself as she turned, her gaze fixing on the man who had just failed to shoot her, _you can handle them, take them down quickly and you won't need to worry anymore about that damn chip._

Gritting her teeth, she moved to take care of the guy, noticing with satisfaction how his hand trembled as he tried to aim at her again, the tremble only increasing when in response, she let both fists flame up; he took a step back from her in response, and before he could do more than that, she had punched the air in front of her harshly, a ball of fire leaving her fist and hitting him in the chest moments later – and his cry of pain mixing with hers as pain exploded in her head, bad enough this time to make her stumble as she clutched her head, groaning as blood trickled from her nose.

Whatever the coven had done to stop the chip from working obviously had worn off, and it had gone back to functioning fully with a vengeance; dimly, she heard someone move up to her, then something hard slammed into the back of her head and sent her down fully, her limbs suddenly strangely useless as she fought to stay conscious, unable to believe that she had messed her rescue of both Willow and Charlie up so badly.

* * *

When she had heard the so familiar _foomph_ of fire and all the screaming, Willow had been overjoyed, instinctively having known that it was Pat who had been the cause of that and not Charlie; shooting had followed, and more screaming, with the witch remaining behind the relative safety of the heavy metal door – until she had heard her partner scream in pain, her eyes going wide as she imagined all sorts of dreadful things happening to her, from one of the shots finally hitting her to someone sneaking up from her blind side and stabbing her or perhaps even dousing her with holy water, even though she wasn't sure if these people even knew what she was.

Moments later though, she pushed those thoughts aside and told herself that she could worry later, that she had to do something to help her wife now; and thus, she grabbed the doorhandle and forcefully pulled it open again, just in time to see one of the women of the small group slam the butt of her gun against the back of Pat's head, the redhead nearly biting her tongue to keep herself from crying out as she watched how the demon ended up flat on her face, her good eye glazing over as she clearly fought to stay conscious.

With a malicious little smirk on her face, the woman pulled back the hammer of her gun, aiming it at the fallen demon; and just as her finger tensed on the trigger, something which felt like a sledgehammer, but wasn't visible to her hit her side, causing her to stagger as she fought to keep her balance.

Startled, but not scared, not yet, she glanced around, trying to figure out what had happened; and then, she spotted the redhead, the woman they had been after in the first place when they had come to this building, before this strange other woman had shown up and had started throwing fire everywhere, taking excellently trained men and women down with frightening ease, until at least she had been able to knock her down from behind.

"Surrender", she now called out, aiming her gun at the redhead, not having put two and two together yet, "and you will not be harmed!"

"Right", Willow dryly replied, then raised her hand so quickly that the woman didn't even have the chance to blink and flicked her fingers at her in a movement looking so casual that it was almost missed – before the invisible sledgehammer hit her again, much harder this time, hard enough to send her flying.

Momentarily, Willow was worried again about the ease with which she used such powerful magic, without even feeling the slightest bit drained; then, the other remaining men and women focused on her, just four of them left standing, but all four of them armed with guns, guns they now aimed at her, not even bothering to call out that she should surrender, but opening fire immediately.

Without even really thinking about it, the witch whipped up a shield in reply, the same one she had used at the side of the road, when the Shop had attacked them hours ago; and again, the magical barrier kept the bullets from harming her, absorbing them all with brief flashes of bright light, the four assailants crying out in surprise at the unexpected sight, making her wonder if they hadn't been briefed about what the Shop by now knew she could do.

 _Don't waste your time pondering that,_ she then chided herself, part of her will still focused on the shield, _find a way to stop them, you know the barrier won't hold forever!_

Already, she was feeling the effects of the bullets hitting the shield again and again, flinching slightly as they kept firing at her, clearly figuring that sooner or later, they just had to penetrate that strange shield she had conjured up; and she knew that, if she didn't come up with something soon, they would, not wanting to rely on the healing factor which had saved her from a gunshot wound once, knowing all too well that it might not be a permanent thing she just could use whenever it was needed, just like the flames she had gained thanks to the pregnancy.

With her mind racing, she glanced around desperately in an attempt to figure out what to do; briefly, she allowed herself to hope that Pat might come back around enough to help her, then realized how unlikely this was – even though, clearly, the chip hadn't been working at least long enough to take some of them out, it had gone back to being fully functional, as evidenced by the blood still dripping from her nose, and even if she would snap out of her daze long enough to fight, just landing one punch most likely would be enough to take her back down right away.

 _Take down,_ her mind supplied, _you have to take them all down at once. How do you accomplish that? Aim for their feet. Or the ground._

Realizing that this might be her best shot, or at least would distract them long enough to let her follow up with another spell, she focused on the ground beneath their feet; and then, she dropped the shield just long enough to unleash her energy blast once more, directing it straight into the earth this time, with the result she had been hoping for – the three men and one woman suddenly found themselves in the epicentre of a small, but violent earthquake, surprised cries coming from all of them as they lost their footing, one of them even falling down on his butt.

To her dismay, the other three remained standing, after some flailing and cursing; still, it had worked the way she had wanted it to, a quick gesture with one hand binding the one who had gone down with the spell she had used so often by now before she focused on the other three, her eyes narrowing as she willed up even more power, directing the blast right in their middle this time, smiling to herself when finally, they all went down.

Quickly, she bound them, as well, ignoring the shocked cries they let out in response to the earth and grass suddenly wrapping around them; now that the danger had been contained, at least for a while, she finally could allow herself to worry about her partner, hurrying to her side just as she let out a grunt and started struggling to her feet again.

Hurriedly, the witch moved to help her, wrapping one arm around her while grasping her with her other hand; and with her aid, the taller woman managed to get back on her feet, still feeling a bit wobbly, but telling herself that surely, she'd be alright in a minute or two.

"I knew you'd come", Willow now spoke up, distracting her from her aching head and making her glance at her, "bursting in to rescue us and to kick the asses of these people, as always."

"Some rescue it was", the demon groused in reply, grimacing, one hand moving to the back of her head, a sharp intake of breath following as her fingers found the bump there and just the slightest touch immediately made it hurt again, "if you hadn't stepped in when you did, I'd probably be dead now."

"This is why we work so well as a team", Willow reassured her in reply, keeping one arm around her waist just in case, "you thinned them out first and I did the rest. Now, if you're fine enough for it, we have to find Charlie and get her out of here…"

"Easier said than done", Pat pointed out in response, making the redhead grimace, "you don't happen to know where she is, right?"

"No", Willow had to admit, "but I bet one of them does." And with those words, she turned to the bound men and women on the ground, smiling a cold, malicious smile at them, a smile which would have upset Pat, hadn't she known that the redhead was faking it; clearly, the captured men and women had no idea that it wasn't real, looking suitably scared as the couple approached them, making them both sure that within not even a few minutes, they would know exactly where Charlie was kept.


	19. Chapter 19

Just like during her first involuntary stay with the Shop, all those years ago, they had put her into an apartment, and again, it had no windows, the door this time only unlockable with a key card – and everything in the apartment was made of fire resistant material, reassuring that she wouldn't be able to use her powers to escape.

Grumbling, she kept on pacing up and down, something she had been doing ever since she had woken up in this place; she was quite sure that they were monitoring her, even though she couldn't see the cameras, but couldn't care less, her mind racing as she tried to find a way to get out of this. She knew that sooner or later, they would send someone to question her, but she figured that they wouldn't be stupid enough to let anyone face her alone; after all, they hardly could make their people as fire resistant as the apartment, and after how she had eluded them for so long, she doubted they would take any risks, but would probably knock her out again with their annoying tranquilizer gun the second they suspected she was using her powers.

 _You can still damage them though,_ a nasty voice whispered to her, making her frown slightly, _if you're quick enough, you can set one of them on fire before they can take you down again. And if you do this often enough…_

"Then what", she asked out loud, not caring if anyone could hear her through microphones just as hidden as the cameras, "then they'll just stop coming after a while and let me starve? Cause they won't just let me go."

The voice had nothing to reply to that, and she mumbled "thought so" to herself, shaking her head before she resumed her pacing, her mind wandering now, to her friends and the question what had happened to them, if they had been taken as well, or just had been left alone – or if they had been killed, deemed worthless and too great a risk to be left alive by the people who had captured her yet again.

 _Please don't let them be dead,_ she asked no one in particular, never having been a firm believer in any gods or goddesses, _if they got killed because of me…_

The mere thought was almost enough to make her cry, a thick lump in her throat all of a sudden; swallowing heavily, Charlie stopped her pacing, all at once wishing that someone would come to her after all, if only so she could ask them about Willow and Pat, and find out what had happened to them.

 _If they'd even tell you,_ she then bitterly realized, helplessly clenching her fists, _and not just use this information as bait so you'll light fires for them in exchange. You know that's not the first time they'd do this, they did the same back then with Dad, and all the little outings they'd allow me…_

Thinking of her father made her heart clench up, the final image she had of him coming up in her mind's eye, how he had laid dying in the shed, bleeding out from the gunshot wound and telling her in a weak, but determined voice that she should burn them all – and she had, setting fire to everything and everyone she had laid eyes on, killing and injuring so many of them.

To this day, nightmares about what she had done back then still plagued her, images of melting faces and bursting eyeballs causing her to wake up screaming in the middle of the night; still though, deep inside, she knew she'd be willing to do it all again if it meant that she'd get out of there, preferring a life in freedom with bad dreams to one in the hands of the Shop, with other men and women controlling and watching her every move.

 _And if they harmed my friends, I'll do it all again with a smile on my face,_ she swore to herself, determination hardening her features, _I'll burn them all if I have to, each and every—_ A sudden, loud buzzing sound interrupted her thoughts, making her frown again as it took her a moment to figure out what the noise was, and what the regular intervals it echoed through the compound in meant; then, she recognized it as an alarm, her eyes briefly widening as she suddenly knew, simply _knew_ that it had to be her friends, that they had come to get her out.

Without missing a beat, now that she had figured out what the noise was, Charlie rushed to the door, pressing her ear against it in an attempt to figure out what was going on; she heard shouting outside, and people running past the door, but to her dismay, no one bothered to come to her and explain what was going on.

"Hey!" she thus hollered on top of her lungs, even though she doubted anyone would be paying much attention on her, considering the fact that she was their prisoner and not their valued guest, "what the Hell is going on?"

Playing dumb, she had decided, might be more likely to get her some answers than letting it show that she suspected who was responsible for the ruckus; to her dismay though, this clearly didn't work, the door remaining firmly locked and the people outside just running past instead of coming to her and telling her what was going on.

Angrily, Charlie glared at the door, as if it would open on its own if she just looked at it furiously enough; and then, the buzzing alarm died away, and the noise outside did the same a minute later, prompting her to step back from the door in worry, her hands suddenly trembling as she ran them through her hair, trying to figure out what this might mean now.

 _You know what it means,_ the nasty voice whispered in her mind again, _they got captured or maybe even killed, they won't get you out now, you just got them in trouble as well, they'll be locked up right along with you and experimented on, just so that the Shop can learn what they can and can't do._

"Please, no", she mumbled, again not sure whom she was talking to; she took another step back from the door, and that was when it suddenly trembled in the frame, as if someone had kicked it or had thrown themselves against it from the outside, her eyes going wide again as she moved back even further, asking herself what was happening now.

"I told you", an all too familiar voice came up moments later, causing Charlie to gasp with surprise and delight, "this won't work, the doors they use aren't just cheap plywood!"

"I thought my strength would be enough", she heard Pat argue back, smiling to herself at their bickering despite the still quite risky situation, "but, fine, you do it then. Next time I'll let you do it right away."

The only response she heard was a slight giggle, then the hallway behind the door fell silent; and moments later, sparks sputtered from the key card slot, prompting Charlie to jump back in surprise, a wide smile forming on her face when the door swung open moments later and she found herself face to face with the couple.

"Well, at least he told the truth", Pat commented, smiling slightly as well at how overjoyed the blonde was to see them, "you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I'm fine", Charlie reassured her at once, "thank you so much for getting me out of here…"

"We're not out yet", Willow pointed out, "so we better get moving. That fire we set as a distraction won't keep them busy forever."

"Too true", the demon agreed immediately, "let's go then, before they notice what's going on."

Nodding, Charlie stepped out of the apartment with them, glancing left and right, but to her relief finding the hallway empty; briefly, she wondered how many men and women of the Shop had died already, knowing that there was no chance for a simple set fire to keep them all busy and away from her prison, then shrugged it off, telling herself that it was their own fault and that none of this would have happened if they just had left her alone.

"Let's go", she repeated what Pat had said earlier, making both women nod; and then, without another word, they started moving, the blonde following them, hoping that they would get out of the compound and to relative safety before anyone would notice what was going on and chase after them.


	20. Chapter 20

_Of course that would have been too good to be true,_ Charlie had to realize not all too long afterwards, as they stepped out of the building and into the courtyard in front of it, and found themselves facing a dozen men and women, all of them armed, and all of them pointing those guns at them.

"Stand down", one of them called out, managing to sound quite brave, but not able to keep the slight tremble out of his voice, by now obviously knowing what the three women they were looking at were capable of, "your little excursion ends here. No one will be harmed if you just surrender now!"

"I find that kind of hard to believe", Willow commented, the memory of how one of them had effortlessly broken her arm and had threatened her with even more pain still fresh on her mind, "and since it seems you by now at least have an idea about what we can do, why don't _you_ stand down and let us go? There's no need for any more bloodshed."

"We can't do that", another one replied, even though he looked as if that was just what he wanted, "our orders are very clear. Keep you contained, find out what you can do, and how those skills can be used for our nation."

"You just could have asked", the redhead pointed out, at the same time frantically calling to the child within her so she might use his or her flames once more; so far, her tactic to stall them with talking was working out quite well, but from how nervous they all were looking, it was clear that sooner or later, someone would get trigger-happy, and she wanted to be ready for this moment, knowing that her partner wouldn't be able to help them in the fight, something she hoped the men and women of the Shop were not aware of.

"Enough talking", one of the women now snarled, raising her gun slightly as if to underline her words, "if they won't cooperate, let's take them down, you know they are too dangerous to be let go!"

"You do know we saved the world a couple of times, right", Pat now spoke up, frowning at the group, "if it hadn't been for us, none of you would be around anymore. Zombies, deadly mists with monsters inside, the devil, the apocalypse, take your pick."

Clearly, they had no idea what she was talking about, since they all exchanged confused looks; then, the woman who had called for an attack shook her head and took a step forward, her finger curling around the trigger, but the second she pulled it, Willow had conjured up yet another shield, the bullet hitting it and flashing away into nothingness harmlessly.

"Surround them", one of them called, "she can't keep all our bullets from hitting if we hit them from all sides! Do it!"

"No!" another one called out, perhaps the only one of the group who wasn't keen on spilling blood; none of the others bothered to listen though, beginning to move instead to do what one of them had suggested, the demon automatically sliding into a combat stance in response, before she remembered that there wasn't much she could do with the chip keeping her from harming humans.

Still, she snarled at them, figuring that they didn't know about her limitations; thankfully, her angry noises finally snapped Charlie out of her stupor as well, and she narrowed her eyes, the air around her beginning to shimmer as she tapped into her powers.

"This is your last chance", Willow called out to them, feeling sweat forming on her brow as she expanded the shield to form a circle around the three of them, "retreat now and go, before any more of your get hurt!"

"Fire!" another man shouted in response to her well-meant advice, and they started shooting, the bullets flashing away into nothingness seconds later; and another two seconds later, Charlie unleashed her fire at them, screams mixing with the gunfire as several of them stumbled away, burning from head to toe.

"Hurry", the blonde heard Pat snap behind her, briefly wondering why she wasn't helping, then shrugging it off, "she can't keep this shield up forever!"

Gritting her teeth in response, Charlie concentrated again, the air around her heating up noticeably as she set three more on fire; thankfully, this also meant less people capable of firing, the shield thus not forced to take so much damage anymore, the strain which keeping it up had put on Willow lessening enough to make doing so easier for her.

Still, she felt sweat run down her cheeks as she kept fuelling the shield, pumping her willpower into it; part of her wondered how much longer she could keep it up on her power alone, and if she'd have to tap into the dark magic within her soon, or if the battle would be over before this point, and keep them all from facing something even more dangerous and deadly than Charlie ever could be.

"Keep going", she heard Pat encourage the blonde, "just a few left, come on, take them down and then we can go, come on, you can do it!"

 _And she better do it quickly,_ Willow thought to herself, clenching her fists so hard that her nails were biting into her palms, _cause I can't keep this up much longer._

More bullets hit the shield, and she flinched, then let out a heavy breath as she felt something hot and sticky trickle from her nose, realizing belatedly that it was blood and not sweat; and then, she felt Pat grasp her hand, heat flooding her moments later, a startled gasp coming from her as she realized what was happening.

"Take as much as you need", she heard the demon whisper, keeping her voice down so none of their opponents would hear her, "if I can't fight, at least I can help like this…"

Realizing that she was right, Willow nodded in response, then tightened her grip on the taller woman's hand and opened herself up to the strength of her magic, forced to hold back a sigh of pure pleasure as she felt the demon's strength joining hers, making it so much easier for her to keep the barrier going.

From her other side, she heard Charlie snarl slightly as she focused once more, on the few men and women who were still standing, firing uselessly at them; and moments later, they were burning as well, Willow dropping the shield the second they gone down and were flailing on the ground, screaming in pain as the flames consumed their clothing and ate through to skin and flesh.

"Let's go, let's go!", she dimly heard Pat call out, then let out a weak noise of both surprise and protest as she was swept up into the demon's arms; ignoring her though, the taller woman simply ran, clutching her tightly, Charlie right beside her, breathing heavily after using so much of her powers in such a short span of time.

"We need to find a car", she still panted, struggling to keep up with the black haired woman, impressed by the fact that her wife's weight didn't seem to hinder her the slightest, "we can't outrun them, they'll recover and come after us…"

"Over there", Pat pointed out in response, nodding into the general direction of a bunch of vehicles parked not too far away, making the blonde nod as she now conserved her breath for running; she heard the men and women cry out behind her, then several shots were fired, one of them so close to her that she felt it zinging by, none of the bullets hitting her or her friends though, the aim of the Shop's people quite off thanks to the injuries she had inflicted on them.

Ignoring them and their attempts to shoot them, Pat kept running, until she had reached the nearest car; hurriedly, she moved around it, using it for cover while she carefully lowered Willow to the ground, then made use of her strength by simply ripping the back door open, not bothering with fiddling with the lock.

Quickly, while their opponents were still firing at them, to her relief without much skill though, she at first got the witch into the backseat, then ushered Charlie into the car before she finally got in herself, keeping her head low as she worked on hotwiring the car, not wanting to end up shot so shortly before their escape.

As if they had read her thoughts, a bullet smashed the windshield over her head, glass raining down on her and causing her to let out a rather harsh curse between grit teeth; in the backseat, Willow mumbled "Language", only now realizing how drained she felt, eying the few men and women who still were capable of walking nervously as they approached the car, but holding back the need to urge her lover on, knowing that Pat was doing this as fast as it was possible.

Another shot hit the car, punching a whole into the passenger side door; thankfully, the shot narrowly missed her wife, hitting the seat instead, and moments later, the engine sputtered to life, then roared when the taller woman stepped down on the gas pedal, the dismayed cries of their pursuers mixing with the vehicle's sound as she was driving away from them and left them behind, a few more shots being fired after them, but none of them hitting the car or one of the passengers, a relieved sigh coming from the redhead as she slumped back into the seat, glad that they had made their escape from this terrible place at last.


	21. Chapter 21

Author's Note: Since I missed the update on Monday, this one's longer and the final part :) I hope you enjoyed this, new story will start next week!

They drove at high speed for almost an hour, until Pat could be sure that no one was following them; only then, she slowed down, relaxing visibly, the sight being enough to make Charlie and Willow do the same, both of them relieved that evidently, they had gotten away, without any of them getting hurt yet again.

"Well", the demon broke the silence which had formed after a while, letting go of the steering wheel with one hand to find her cigarettes, remove one from the pack and light it up, "seems like we go away. Not to jinx it or anything. Now, where do we go? Back to the coven is not an option."

"We should find a place to sleep first", the witch suggested in response, cranking down the car window so the smoke wouldn't collect inside the vehicle, prompting the taller woman to shoot her a guilty look as all the excitement had made her forget about the "no smoking in closed rooms" rule, "get some rest, and food. We can all need that, I guess."

"Hell yes", Charlie agreed, "a comfy bed, a hot shower, and a big meal. Just what I need right now. And maybe a few drinks afterwards."

"Oh yes", Pat nodded at once, making Willow smile slightly, "a cold beer or two. And a big, rare steak, with a big baked potato."

"We better find a hotel then", the witch suggested, making them both nod this time, "perhaps not right at this street, so they won't find us, in case they decide to chase after us…"

"Perhaps we should get another car as well", the demon thought out loud in response, her gaze on the road again, her worries about driving on the left side with her reduced depth perception at least for the moment forgotten, "I'm quite sure they'll have some sort of tracking device in this one, since it belongs to them. They'd be paranoid enough for that."

"You might be right about that", Charlie grimaced, "so we have to steal _another_ car? I think since I've met the two of you I've ridden in more stolen cars than in my entire life before."

"Means to an end and all that", Pat shrugged, clearly not all too perturbed by the thought, "we can worry about getting a car in a more legal way once we can be sure that these guys aren't after us anymore."

"This is what happens when you hang out with the two of us", Willow told her with a small sigh, "we get into all kinds of trouble, and then we end up fighting people and monsters and stealing cars. And motorcycles."

"But in this case, it's my fault", Charlie pointed out, causing the redhead to realize that she was right – by now, she apparently had gotten so used to ending up in trouble at all possible times that she didn't even consider anymore that it might be caused by someone who wasn't part of their little gang.

"Well, at least we can't say that our honeymoon was dull", Pat chuckled, making the other two smile as well, "and I bet once we get back and tell the others what happened, they'll advise us to never, ever go on holiday again."

"Do your holidays usually end this way?" Charlie wanted to know, frowning, "on the run from some government organisation?"

"No", Willow reassured her, "but this is only the second time we went on holidays together, and the first time we did so, there were monsters in the mist, trying to eat us all. Long story."

"You must have very interesting lives", the blonde mumbled, making them both smile and nod; then, they all fell silent again as Pat concentrated on driving and the other two kept their eyes open, making sure that no one was following them as each second put a bigger and bigger distance between them and the people of the Shop.

* * *

"I really needed that", Pat sighed out hours later as she dropped down onto the comfortable double bed, hours after their escape from the Shop; just as planned, they had found another car, one which didn't belong to a member of that organization, and then had driven on until they'd found a small hotel at one of the lesser used country roads, one which thankfully included a restaurant, as well, getting the big dinner they all had been quite keen for by then and having the drinks Charlie had suggested before retreating to their rooms.

"Proper food", the demon now clarified, even though it wasn't really necessary, "cold drinks, and now a nice and comfy bed. Just perfect."

"Indeed", Willow agreed, "finally some time to relax. It feels like we've been fighting and running and whatnot ever since we landed in London."

"Too true", Pat grumbled, momentarily dismayed about the fact that the room was a non-smoking one, then shrugging it off, figuring that she could go have a smoke outside later, "it's getting ridiculous how often we end up in these kind of situations. And I swear once we're back home, I'll go to L.A. just to punch Faith, cause she totally jinxed our honeymoon!"

"Don't punch her", the witch admonished, although with a slight giggle, "you know she didn't do it on purpose. And she was kinda right, I mean, we do seem to attract trouble wherever we… go…"

She trailed off as she noticed the way Pat was looking at her, with a hunger in her gaze that had nothing to do with any kind of food they might be getting downstairs in the restaurant; while she had been speaking, she had started unbuttoning her blouse, getting ready to go to bed, and clearly, the mere sight of the blouse falling open and revealing her upper body and bra had been enough to push any thoughts about Faith and punching her out of the taller woman's mind and to replace them with decidedly naughtier ideas.

As if to make sure that Willow had realized this, she let out a low growl, a lusty glint entering her good eye; smirking, not really surprised by this, since it had been quite some time since they had had the chance to make love, and knowing that fighting always got the demon's blood up, the witch decided to up the ante, her smirk widening into a seductive smile as she slowly let the blouse slide down her arms, causing another growl from her wife, giving her a strict look though when she looked as if she wanted to jump from the bed and pounce her.

"No no", she then said, taking a step backwards just to be on the safe side, "stay right where you are, or this little show will end immediately."

Momentarily, Pat looked as if she wanted to protest, then clearly changed her mind about it, since she relaxed visibly; winking at her, Willow started opening her pants, briefly surprised at her own behaviour – she had grown much more self-confident and comfortable with herself, and was far from the shy girl she had been before college, but more or less performing a striptease was something she hadn't envisioned herself doing any time soon just a few hours ago, and yet there she was, doing just that for her partner, who obviously enjoyed it immensely.

 _Well, she_ is _your wife,_ she then thought to herself, still smiling as she lost the pants, now presenting herself to the taller woman in nothing but her underwear, _if you wouldn't be comfortable enough to do this with her, or for her in this case, it'd be quite the bad thing…_

Without letting her thoughts distract her from the task at hand, she reached behind her back with one hand, skilfully undoing the clasp of her bra; and the moment it came undone, Pat clearly lost the little bit of self-control she'd had after the witch's little threat, another throaty growl coming from her as she shot up from the bed, her arms wrapping around the redhead moments later and making her squeal in both surprise and delight, the noise cut off by Pat's mouth on hers seconds later, the demon's fierce passion pushing all coherent thought to the far back of her mind a mere minute later.

* * *

"I think I know how to get you out of the country", Willow told Charlie in the next morning as they had met in the restaurant for breakfast and after the usual pleasantries had been exchanged, "I can put a glamour on you which will make you look like someone else. You shouldn't try to leave by plane as long as it is active, but it should do for the ferry."

"That might work", Charlie agreed after pondering this for a moment, "but what will the two of you do? They'll be after you, as well, no?"

"We can deal with them", Pat reassured her in response, "once we are back in the states, we have… connections. Don't worry about us."

Momentarily, the blonde looked doubtful, as if she wanted to protest; then, she apparently decided to just believe the demon, since she smiled weakly and nodded, the redhead speaking up again moments later and distracting her from the possible danger she might have gotten them in.

"You should keep your head low for a while", Willow suggested, making her nod yet again, "and don't use your powers. I don't know if they can find you whenever you use them, but just in case they can… And you should stay in Europe for a while. Perhaps in some country which isn't all too friendly with the USA, so it won't be so easy for them to set up shop there."

Next to her, Pat let out a snort, nearly choking on her coffee, then shrugged at the confused look Willow shot her, making Charlie giggle when she explained what had struck her as so funny.

"Nicely punned", she told the witch, smirking while the blonde laughed again, "the Shop setting up shop."

Rolling her eyes at her wife's antics, Willow tried hard to keep up the behaviour of the only serious one at the table; she even managed to do so until she had told the two that it hadn't been supposed to be a pun, losing the fight against her laughter when the demon raised an eyebrow in response and told her that she was even more impressed then.

"Alright", she then tried to regain some of her composure, "enough of the giggles now. There's still quite a few things we have to talk about, before we can get moving again. Charlie, do you have access to money?"

"Bad idea", Pat threw in before the blonde could answer herself, "even if you got enough in an account, they can use that to track you. No worries though, I can help you out with some cash until you can make some on your own."

"No", Charlie protested at once, not really surprising the couple, "I can't take your money! You've helped me so much already, and you know you might never get it back…"

"I know", the taller woman confirmed, "and I don't mind. We got more than enough money, so don't worry about it, and we didn't help you so you can starve in the streets of Switzerland or something."

"Good point", Charlie had to admit, "but I still feel bad about this… I can get money on my own, I've done it before…"

"And until then, you'll have a sort of jump start from us", the black haired woman replied, unimpressed by her protest and giving her a strict look when she apparently wanted to protest again, "and don't you talk back now. I'm two hundred years older than you, so mind your elders."

"Fine", the blonde replied with a roll of her eyes, "you win. Thank you. I know this isn't enough, but thank you."

In response, Pat just gave her another smile while Willow told her not to mention it; and then, they changed the topic to a more pleasant one and focused on their breakfast, all three of them sure that now, their troubles were over and that soon, at least a bit of peace would return to their lives.

* * *

"Alright", Charlie mumbled a day and half later, time they mostly had spent on the road, on the way to the ferry which would take her to France, "I guess this is goodbye then…"

If there were any agents of the Shop around, they were doing a better job at hiding among the civilians than their companions at the airport had; and obviously, the glamour Willow had put on all three of them to hide them from their keen gazes was working just as well, no one giving them a second glance as they stood at the pier.

"Take care", Pat was the first to respond, giving her a hopefully calming smile, "and drop us a line some time, or give us a call. Just so we know you're alive and kicking."

"Of course", the blonde croaked, now looking and sounding as if she was close to tears, "and I know I've said this a hundred times since this whole mess started, but… thank you. Thank you so much…"

"Don't mention it", the demon gave her the response she had given the countless other times Charlie had expressed her gratitude, "I have more than enough to make up for from the time before I met my lovely wife here, and we could hardly leave you in that mess now, could we? Just take care in the future."

"I will", Charlie promised, then stepped closer to her and hugged her; after the embrace, Willow was pulled into one, as well, then the blonde straightened and took in a deep breath, steeling herself for the departure which now had to follow.

"You take care, too", she still told them, "and enjoy the rest of your honeymoon."

"Oh, we will", Willow reassured her with a smile; in response, the blonde smiled back, then said her goodbyes and turned away from them, the two women watching her heading down the pier without looking back, both of them saddened to see her go, but knowing that it was for the best.

"You think she'll be okay?" Willow wanted to know as soon as Charlie was out of earshot, making Pat nod immediately; putting one arm around her, the taller woman pulled her closer, her gaze still fixed on the blonde as she replied verbally, as well.

"She's strong, she'll be fine", she told her partner, smiling slightly when the witch leaned into her embrace, snuggling up to her, "and if not, she'll know where to find us."

"Yes", the redhead agreed after a moment, smiling as well, "and now that we got another disastrous situation under control, we can finally enjoy our honeymoon in peace."

"About time", the demon chuckled, making her partner giggle as well while she nodded; they shared a brief kiss, then turned away from the pier and walked back to the car they had acquired arm in arm, eager to make the best of the time they still had in England, and to celebrate their love and marriage the way it deserved to be celebrated.

End


End file.
